Generalizing Kirchhoff laws for Signed Graphs

Abstract

Kirchhoff-type Laws for signed graphs are characterized by generalizing transpedances through the incidence-oriented structure of bidirected graphs. The classical 2-arborescence interpretation of Tutte is shown to be equivalent to single-element Boolean classes of reduced incidence-based cycle covers, called contributors. A generalized contributor-transpedance is introduced using entire Boolean classes that naturally cancel in a graph; classical conservation is proven to be property of the trivial Boolean classes. The contributor-transpedances on signed graphs are shown to produce non-conservative Kirchhoff-type Laws, where every contributor possesses the unique source-sink path property. Finally, the maximum value of a contributor-transpedance is calculated through the signless Laplacian.