Replaces the informal Stage 2 argument with a rigorous one,
achieved by refining the proposition to high-side faces only.
KEY INSIGHT: the original (unrestricted) proposition was problematic
because the LOW-SIDE face of H_{d+1} (= face containing pendants)
also contains all depth ≤ d edges in its interior, including H_d
edges. Hence low-side H_{d+1} faces span multiple H_d faces.
The fix: restrict to HIGH-SIDE faces only.
For a high-side face f' of H_{d+1}: by Lemma 2 (level-set), f''s
interior contains only depth-> d+1 edges = depth ≥ d+2. Since
depth-d edges are NOT in this range, no H_d edge sits inside f'.
Therefore f' is contained in a unique H_d face (by partition).
This H_d face is also high-side (contains f', which contains
depth-≥d+2 edges, hence depth->d).
Result: high-side cut tires form a forest, rigorously. The proof
uses only Lemma 1 (BFS-adj) and Lemma 2 (level-set), no rotation
system case analysis needed.
Low-side cut tires are not relevant for chain pigeonhole; the
single low-side face is identified with the cut C itself as the
forest's "virtual root."
Note grows to 5 pages.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
didericis
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