slug: song-lin-2026-oriented-circulant-zero-transfer-parity-refutation
bibkey: song2026zerotransfer
doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2608.10643
url: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.10643v1
triage: theorem
motivation_gids:
  - D5/S3/Quantum/Dynamics/OrientedCirculantZeroTransfer.result

Song and Lin’s parity conjecture for zero transfer on oriented circulant graphs

Problem

Song and Lin study the continuous-time quantum walk U(t) = exp(-i t H) on a mixed graph, where the Hermitian adjacency matrix H has entry i on an arc u → v, -i on the reversed arc and 0 elsewhere on an oriented graph. A graph has zero transfer from u to v if U(t)_{u,v} = 0 for every time t ≥ 0. For the oriented circulant graphs G(ℤ_n, C), with arcs a → b for b - a ∈ C, C ⊆ ℤ_n ∖ {0}, C ∩ -C = ∅, and connectedness assumed throughout the section, they state Conjecture 4.1 of arXiv:2608.10643v1:

Let Γ = G(ℤ_n, C) be an oriented circulant graph with n ≡ 2 (mod 4). If zero transfer occurs between vertex v and 0, then v must be odd.

Issue #10142 fixes the readings: vertices are ZMod n; U(t) is the matrix exponential of -(i t) H, taken as the frozen propagator hamiltonianPropagator H t = exp (t • (-i) • H) of D5/S3/Quantum/Dynamics/ProjectionProbabilityFlow; zero transfer between v and 0 is read in both directions at once, which only strengthens the hypothesis; connectedness is that of the underlying undirected graph; “v is odd” means that the representative of v in 0, …, n − 1 is odd.

Motivation

Zero transfer models the isolation of a vertex from quantum state transfer. The frozen declaration D5/S3/Quantum/Dynamics/OrientedCirculantZeroTransfer.result proves that the conjecture is false: on the connected oriented circulant graph G(ℤ_30, {5, 6, 9, 20}) there is zero transfer between 0 and the even vertex 2.

Gap

Issue #10142 preregisters the conjecture and its literature check. arXiv lists only version 1 (2026-08-11) and no journal reference. Semantic Scholar reports no citing paper. The paper’s own search covers n ≤ 20, and its remark after the conjecture records that a general algebraic proof remains open.

These readings are not-found-in-searched-scope; they do not establish an exhaustive worldwide literature search, priority, or the absence of an independent refutation.

Route

Write H = i S, where S is the integer skew-symmetric matrix with entry 1 on arcs and -1 on reversed arcs; then H^k = i^k S^k. The rows r_k = (S^k)(0, ·) satisfy r_{k+1} = r_k S. Seven exact row products give r_1, …, r_7, with r_k(2) = 0 for k ≤ 6 and

r_7 = −32 r_5 − 320 r_3 − 960 r_1.

Multiplying by S^k gives r_{k+7} = −32 r_{k+5} − 320 r_{k+3} − 960 r_{k+1} for every k, so strong induction yields (S^k)(0, 2) = 0 for all k. Since Sᵀ = −S, (S^k)(2, 0) = (−1)^k (S^k)(0, 2) = 0. Every term of the exponential series of -(i t) H then has vanishing (0, 2) and (2, 0) entries, and so does U(t) for every real t. The set C is oriented, and a → a + 6 ← a + 1 joins each vertex to the next, so the graph is connected.

Falsifier

The refutation would fail if the conjecture’s zero transfer used a transition matrix other than exp(-i t H) with this Hermitian adjacency matrix, or if “odd” referred to something other than the residue class of v modulo the even order n.

Evidence

Exact integer computation gives (S^k)(0, 2) = 0 for k = 0, …, 89 and the matrix identity S^7 = −32 S^5 − 320 S^3 − 960 S; the zero-transfer set of 0 is {1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 22, 23, 26, 28, 29}, which contains the even vertices 2, 4, 8, 14, 16, 22, 26, 28. Numerically, max(|U(t)_{0,2}|, |U(t)_{2,0}|) ≤ 2.8 × 10^{-15} at 201 sampled times in [0, 20]. As a positive control, the same computation reproduces the paper’s order-21 example, where C = {2, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17} has zero transfer from 0 exactly at 7 and 14.

The canonical source is D5/S3/Quantum/Dynamics/OrientedCirculantZeroTransfer.lean. Its public declarations are hermAdj, ZeroTransfer, Oriented, Connected, claim, and result. The frozen module state has statement identity sha256:b2413157cffdbf007294c0de4cc3c07e53b6481a3d313928f43783a244b08f60. The result declaration has statement identity sha256:e4bd9bb53145e48ce490502c2175c76ada22eecee75a4091285b1e585a447c5b. The Freeze event is sha256:38759c7d2112465fd527290d5563153eae6dda19b82a3ec94e2f6e1c5315c897 and has one project-level frozen prerequisite, the module D5/S3/Quantum/Dynamics/ProjectionProbabilityFlow (statement identity sha256:ac6db85112e8f370397968c1e3e9584b6b0cf72c9768661d36f565e28d242cd8), whose hamiltonianPropagator and hamiltonianGenerator the definitions and the proof use. The proof uses only the standard axioms propext, Classical.choice and Quot.sound; no sorry, native_decide, or new axiom.

Triage

Tier 1 external named conjecture, preregistered in issue #10142 before the probe. theorem; resolution refuted. The public theorem has proof_shape: content: the vanishing of the (0, 2) and (2, 0) entries of every power of S is an infinite family obtained from the degree-seven row recurrence and strong induction, not an instance of pinned lemmas. Its escape witness is form (2), the public conclusion itself, and its admission basis is open-problem-resolution. Its computational use is a certified-instance with basis=refutes: the result negates the closed claim.

ASSUMED-UNVERIFIED

The minimality of n = 30 among orders n ≡ 2 (mod 4) and the count of failing connection sets at n = 30 were reported by a search agent and not rerun; the formal statement depends only on the single witness. The bounded literature check does not establish exhaustive worldwide novelty, priority, or the absence of an independent refutation. The Lean kernel does not authenticate the external source or its version history.