A set
R⊆E(G) of a graph
G is
k-removable if
G−R has a nowhere-zero
k-flow. We prove that every graph
G admitting a nowhere-zero
4-flow has a
3-removable subset consisting of at most
61∣E(G)∣ edges. This gives a positive answer to a conjecture of M. DeVos, J. McDonald, I. Pivotto, E. Rollová and R. Šámal [
3-Flows with large support, J. Comb. Theory Ser. B 144 (2020), 32-80] in the case of graphs admitting a nowhere-zero
4-flow.
Moreover, Hoffmann-Ostenhof recently conjectured that every cubic graph with a nowhere-zero
4-flow has a
4-removable edge. Bipartite cubic graphs verify this conjecture. Our result gives an approximation for Hoffmann-Ostenhof's Conjecture in the non-bipartite case.
Finally, for cubic graphs, our result implies that every
3-edge-colorable cubic graph
G contains a subgraph
H whose connected components are either cycles or subdivisions of bipartite cubic graphs, such that
∣E(H)∣≥65∣E(G)∣.