Colorings versus list colorings of uniform hypergraphs

Let $r$ be an integer with $r\ge 2$ and $G$ be a connected $r$-uniform hypergraph with $m$ edges. By refining the broken cycle theorem for hypergraphs, we show that if $k>\text{◂/▸}\frac{m-1}{\ln (1+\sqrt{2})}\approx \text{◂⋅▸}1.135\left(m-1\right)$, then the $k$-list assignment of $G$ admitting the fewest colorings is the constant list assignment. This extends the previous results of Donner, Thomassen, and the current authors for graphs.     

A characterization of (4,2)-choosable graphs

A graph $G$ is $\left(a,b\right)$-choosable if given any list assignment $L$ with $\text{◂=▸}\mid L\left(v\right)\mid =a$ for each $\text{◂+▸}v\in V\left(G\right)$ there exists a function $\phi$ such that $\text{◂⊆▸}\phi \left(v\right)\subseteq L\left(v\right)$ and $\text{◂=▸}\mid \phi \left(v\right)\mid =b$ for all $\text{◂+▸}v\in V\left(G\right)$, and whenever vertices $x$ and $y$ are adjacent $\text{◂+▸}\phi \left(x\right)\cap \phi \left(y\right)=\varnothing$. Meng, Puleo, and Zhu conjectured a characterization of (4,2)-choosable graphs. We prove their conjecture.     

Graph homomorphism reconfiguration and frozen H-colorings

We say that a graph $F$ strongly arrows a pair of graphs $\left(G,H\right)$ and write $\text{◂→▸}F\stackrel{\text{ind}}{\to }\left(G,H\right)$ if any coloring of its edges with red and blue leads to either a red $G$ or a blue $H$ appearing as induced subgraphs of $F$. The induced Ramsey number, $\text{◂...▸}\text{IR}\left(G,H\right)$, is defined as $\text{◂lim▸}\min \text{◂{}▸}\{|V\left(F\right)|:\text{◂→▸}F\stackrel{\text{ind}}{\to }\left(G,H\right)\}$. We consider the connection between the induced Ramsey number for a pair of two connected graphs $\text{◂...▸}\text{IR}\left(G,H\right)$ and the induced Ramsey number for multiple copies of these graphs $\text{IR}\text{◂()▸}\left(sG,tH\right)$, where $xG$ denotes the pairwise vertex-disjoint union of $x$ copies of $G$. It is easy to see that if $\text{◂→▸}F\stackrel{\text{ind}}{\to }\left(G,H\right)$, then $\text{◂⋅▸}\left(s+t-1\right)F\stackrel{\text{ind}}{\to }\text{◂()▸}\left(sG,tH\right)$. This implies that $$\text{◂...▸}\text{IR}\text{◂≤▸}\text{◂()▸}\left(sG,tH\right)\le \left(s+t-1\right)\text{IR}\left(G,H\right).$$ For several specific graphs, such as a path on three vertices vs a complete multipartite graph, a matching vs a complete graph, or a matching vs another matching, it is known that the above inequality is tight. On the other hand, the inequality is also strict for some graphs. However, even in the simplest case when $H$ is an edge and $t=2$, it is not known for what $G$ and for what $s$ the above inequality is tight. We show that it is tight if $G$ is connected and $s$ is at least as large as the order of $G$. In addition, we make further progress in determining induced Ramsey numbers for multiple copies of graphs, such as paths and triangles.     

The optimal general upper bound for the distinguishing index of infinite graphs

The distinguishing index $D\prime \left(G\right)$ of a graph $G$ is the least cardinal number $d$ such that $G$ has an edge-coloring with $d$ colors, which is preserved only by the trivial automorphism. We prove a general upper bound $D\prime \text{◂≤▸}\left(G\right)\le \mathrm{\Delta }-1$ for any connected infinite graph $G$ with finite maximum degree $\mathrm{\Delta }\ge 3$. This is in contrast with finite graphs since for every $\mathrm{\Delta }\ge 3$ there exist infinitely many connected, finite graphs $G$ with $\text{◂,▸}D\prime \left(G\right)=\mathrm{\Delta }$. We also give examples showing that this bound is sharp for any maximum degree $\mathrm{\Delta }$.