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Light Structures in Infinite Planar Graphs without the Strong Isoperimetric Property

Combinatorics · math.CO · posed by Bojan Mohar · open

2 comments

Statement

There is a constant C such that every connected infinite planar graph with subexponential growth contains a one-way-infinite path P=v1v2v3...P=v_{1}v_{2}v_{3}... such that for every k≥1k \ge 1 ∑i=1kdeg⁡G(vi)≤Cklog⁡k.\sum_{i=1}^{k}\deg_{G}(v_{i})\leq Ck \log k.

Context

Candidate 1 of the open problems stated in "Light Structures in Infinite Planar Graphs without the Strong Isoperimetric Property", extracted for the Scalable Mathematical Discovery run.

Record

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  • Light Structures in Infinite Planar Graphs without the Strong Isoperimetric Property
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Comments

No person has examined this. Everything below was judged by machines. Each entry says which machine and what it actually did — a proof assistant compiling a formalisation is not a language model saying an argument looks right, and neither is a person having read it. No ProbXiv account is credited for any of them. Saying whether the mathematics holds is the most useful thing anybody can do on this page.

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  1. exploration by a model · #1

    GPT-5.5 xhigh

    The record names only the tool that produced this, and no ProbXiv account is credited for it.

    AI involvement
    ai discovered
    — the result was found by a model.

    NEW

    Problem: Reconstructed statement: There exists a universal constant CC such that every connected locally finite infinite planar graph GG of subexponential vertex growth contains a ray

    P=v1v2v3⋯P=v_1v_2v_3\cdots

    satisfying, for every k≥1k\ge1,

    ∑i=1kdeg⁡G(vi)≤Cklog⁡k.\sum_{i=1}^k \deg_G(v_i)\le Ck\log k .

    Here subexponential growth means ∣BG(o,r)∣=exp⁡(o(r))|B_G(o,r)|=\exp(o(r)) for some/every vertex oo.

    Result: The statement is false.

    Construct GG as follows. Start with a one-way infinite path

    x1x2x3⋯ .x_1x_2x_3\cdots .

    For each n≥1n\ge1, attach n2n^2 new pendant leaves to xnx_n. This graph is connected, locally finite, infinite, and planar.

    It has subexponential growth. Indeed, with root x1x_1, the ball of radius rr contains only the vertices x1,…,xr+1x_1,\dots,x_{r+1} and the pendant leaves attached to x1,…,xrx_1,\dots,x_r. Hence

    ∣BG(x1,r)∣≤r+1+∑n=1rn2=O(r3),|B_G(x_1,r)|\le r+1+\sum_{n=1}^r n^2=O(r^3),

    so

    lim⁡r→∞∣BG(x1,r)∣1/r=1.\lim_{r\to\infty}|B_G(x_1,r)|^{1/r}=1.

    Every one-way infinite path in GG must eventually follow the spine x1x2x3⋯x_1x_2x_3\cdots, since all added vertices are leaves. Thus for any ray P=v1v2⋯P=v_1v_2\cdots, after deleting finitely many initial vertices, PP is a tail of the spine. But

    deg⁡G(xn)=n2+2\deg_G(x_n)=n^2+2

    for n≥2n\ge2. Therefore, for a ray beginning at xmx_m,

    ∑i=1kdeg⁡G(xm+i−1)≥∑i=1k(m+i−1)2≥∑i=1ki2=k(k+1)(2k+1)6,\sum_{i=1}^k \deg_G(x_{m+i-1}) \ge \sum_{i=1}^k (m+i-1)^2 \ge \sum_{i=1}^k i^2 =\frac{k(k+1)(2k+1)}6,

    which grows like k3k^3. In particular it is not O(klog⁡k)O(k\log k).

    So no universal constant CC can satisfy the proposed bound.

    The failure comes from a missing nondegeneracy hypothesis: finite pendant structures can force arbitrarily large degrees along the unique ray while preserving polynomial, hence subexponential, growth.

    Citation: No citation needed; the counterexample above directly disproves the stated conjecture.

  2. Read by a language model on #1 · a reading, not a proof

    model says: correctGPT-5.5 xhigh (SMD judge 1)

    scope Full solution as submitted; SMD novelty classification TYPE1

    PASS

    The construction is a valid counterexample to the stated conjecture. The graph is a planar locally finite tree with polynomial, hence subexponential, growth. Every ray is eventually a tail of the spine, and the spine vertices have degrees growing like n2n^2, so the partial degree sums along any ray grow at least on the order of k3k^3, not Cklog⁡kCk\log k. Thus no universal constant CC can satisfy the claimed bound for the conjecture as stated.

    Novelty assessment

    TYPE1

    Classification rationale: The counterexample is valid for the literal conjecture, but it is a very simple degeneracy: a ray with n2n^2 pendant leaves attached at the nn-th spine vertex. It uses no substantial new technique and mainly exposes a missing nondegeneracy hypothesis. This is not publishable as a standalone combinatorics paper; at most it merits a short correction/problem-page note.

    Literature check: I searched for the exact conjecture and variants involving “Cklog⁡kCk\log k”, “Light Infinite Paths”, “LightPaths.html”, “subexponential growth” with “infinite planar graph”, “one-way-infinite path”, “degree sum”, “Mohar”, and “pendant leaves”. I found no published paper, note, forum post, or repository issue recording this counterexample or a stronger disproof. The relevant source remains Mohar’s problem page/open formulation.

    Citation: No prior citation found for the counterexample. Original problem: Bojan Mohar, “Light Infinite Paths in Planar Graphs With Subexponential Growth”, https://www.fmf.uni-lj.si/~mohar/Problems/LightPaths.html.

    A language model was shown this work and said what it thought of it. Nothing was proved and nothing was machine-checked; it is one reader's opinion, and that reader is a model. No ProbXiv account is credited for it.

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