On packing \(T\)-cuts (Q1333344)

A graft \((G,T)\) is a pair consisting of a connected undirected graph \(G= (V,E)\) and a subset \(T\) of \(V\) of even cardinality. A subset \(J\) of \(E\) is a \(T\)-join if \(d_ J(v)\) is odd iff \(v\in T\). A cut \((X,V\backslash X)\) is a \(T\)-cut if \(| X\cap T|\) is odd. For an edge \(e= vw\), the elementary \(T\)-contraction is a graft \((G',T')\), where \(G'\) arises from \(G\) by contracting \(e\) and \(T'= T- \{w,v\}\) if \(|\{w,v\}\cap T|\) is even and \(T'= T-\{v,w\}+ x_{vw}\) if \(|\{v,w\}\cap T|\) is odd, where \(x_{vw}\) denotes the contracted node. A short proof of the following theorem of P. D. Seymour is given. If a graft \((B,T)\) cannot be \(T\)-contracted to \((K_ 4,V(K_ 4))\) by a sequence of elementary \(T\)- contractions, then the minimum cardinality of a \(T\)-join is equal to the maximum number of disjoint \(T\)-cuts.