Directed cycle double covers and cut-obstacles

Abstract: A directed cycle double cover of a graph G is a family of cycles of G, each provided with an orientation, such that every edge of G is covered by exactly two oppositely directed cycles. Explicit obstacles to the existence of a directed cycle double cover in a graph are bridges. Jaeger conjectured that bridges are actually the only obstacles. One of the difficulties in proving the Jaeger's conjecture lies in discovering and avoiding obstructions to partial strategies that, if successful, create directed cycle double covers. In this work, we suggest a way to circumvent this difficulty. We formulate a conjecture on graph connections, whose validity follows by the successful avoidance of one cut-type obstruction that we call cut-obstacles. The main result of this work claims that our 'cut-obstacles avoidance conjecture' already implies Jaeger's directed cycle double cover conjecture.