On the complexity of the circular chromatic number

Circular chromatic number, χ_c is a natural generalization of chromatic number. It is known that it is NP ‐hard to determine whether or not an arbitrary graph G satisfies χ(G)=χ_c(G). In this paper we prove that this problem is NP ‐hard even if the chromatic number of the graph is known. This answers a question of Xuding Zhu. Also we prove that for all positive integers k ≥ 2 and n ≥ 3, for a given graph G with χ(G) = n, it is NP ‐complete to verify if . © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 47: 226–230, 2004     

The circular chromatic number of the Mycielskian of G

In a search for triangle-free graphs with arbitrarily large chromatic numbers, Mycielski developed a graph transformation that transforms a graph G into a new graph μ(G), we now call the Mycielskian of G, which has the same clique number as G and whose chromatic number equals χ(G) + 1. Chang, Huang, and Zhu [G. J. Chang, L. Huang, & X. Zhu, Discrete Math, to appear] have investigated circular chromatic numbers of Mycielskians for several classes of graphs. In this article, we study circular chromatic numbers of Mycielskians for another class of graphs G. The main result is that χ_c(μ(G)) = χ(μ(G)), which settles a problem raised in [G. J. Chang, L. Huang, & X. Zhu, Discrete Math, to appear, and X. Zhu, to appear]. As χ_c(G) = and χ(G) = , consequently, there exist graphs G such that χ_c(G) is as close to χ(G) − 1 as you want, but χ_c(μ(G)) = χ(μ(G)). © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 32: 63–71, 1999     

The circular chromatic number of series‐parallel graphs

In this article, we consider the circular chromatic number χ_c(G) of series‐parallel graphs G. It is well known that series‐parallel graphs have chromatic number at most 3. Hence, their circular chromatic numbers are at most 3. If a series‐parallel graph G contains a triangle, then both the chromatic number and the circular chromatic number of G are indeed equal to 3. We shall show that if a series‐parallel graph G has girth at least 2 ⌊(3k − 1)/2⌋, then χ_c(G) ≤ 4k/(2k − 1). The special case k = 2 of this result implies that a triangle free series‐parallel graph G has circular chromatic number at most 8/3. Therefore, the circular chromatic number of a series‐parallel graph (and of a K₄‐minor free graph) is either 3 or at most 8/3. This is in sharp contrast to recent results of Moser [5] and Zhu [14], which imply that the circular chromatic number of K₅‐minor free graphs are precisely all rational numbers in the interval [2, 4]. We shall also construct examples to demonstrate the sharpness of the bound given in this article. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 33: 14–24, 2000     

On the circular chromatic number of circular partitionable graphs

This article studies the circular chromatic number of a class of circular partitionable graphs. We prove that an infinite family of circular partitionable graphs G has . A consequence of this result is that we obtain an infinite family of graphs G with the rare property that the deletion of each vertex decreases its circular chromatic number by exactly 1. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

Fractional chromatic number and circular chromatic number for distance graphs with large clique size

An Erratum has been published for this article in Journal of Graph Theory 48: 329–330, 2005 . Let M be a set of positive integers. The distance graph generated by M, denoted by G(Z, M), has the set Z of all integers as the vertex set, and edges ij whenever |i?j| ∈ M. We investigate the fractional chromatic number and the circular chromatic number for distance graphs, and discuss their close connections with some number theory problems. In particular, we determine the fractional chromatic number and the circular chromatic number for all distance graphs G(Z, M) with clique size at least |M|, except for one case of such graphs. For the exceptional case, a lower bound for the fractional chromatic number and an upper bound for the circular chromatic number are presented; these bounds are sharp enough to determine the chromatic number for such graphs. Our results confirm a conjecture of Rabinowitz and Proulx 22 on the density of integral sets with missing differences, and generalize some known results on the circular chromatic number of distance graphs and the parameter involved in the Wills' conjecture 26 (also known as the “lonely runner conjecture” 1 ). © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 47: 129–146, 2004     

Orientations of graphs with uncountable chromatic number

Motivated by an old conjecture of P. Erdős and V. Neumann‐Lara, our aim is to investigate digraphs with uncountable dichromatic number and orientations of undirected graphs with uncountable chromatic number. A graph has uncountable chromatic number if its vertices cannot be covered by countably many independent sets, and a digraph has uncountable dichromatic number if its vertices cannot be covered by countably many acyclic sets. We prove that, consistently, there are digraphs with uncountable dichromatic number and arbitrarily large digirth; this is in surprising contrast with the undirected case: any graph with uncountable chromatic number contains a 4‐cycle. Next, we prove that several well‐known graphs (uncountable complete graphs, certain comparability graphs, and shift graphs) admit orientations with uncountable dichromatic number in ZFC. However, we show that the statement “every graph G of size and chromatic number ω₁ has an orientation D with uncountable dichromatic number” is independent of ZFC. We end the article with several open problems.     

The circular chromatic number of series‐parallel graphs with large girth

It was proved by Hell and Zhu that, if G is a series‐parallel graph of girth at least 2⌊(3k − 1)/2⌋, then χ_c(G) ≤ 4k/(2k − 1). In this article, we prove that the girth requirement is sharp, i.e., for any k ≥ 2, there is a series‐parallel graph G of girth 2⌊(3k − 1)/2⌋ − 1 such that χ_c(G) > 4k/(2k − 1). © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 33: 185–198, 2000     

The circular chromatic numbers of planar digraphs

The circular chromatic number is a refinement of the chromatic number of a graph. It has been established in [3,6,7] that there exists planar graphs with circular chromatic number r if and only if r is a rational in the set {1} ∪ [2,4]. Recently, Mohar, in [1,2] has extended the concept of the circular chromatic number to digraphs and it is interesting to ask what the corresponding result is for digraphs. In this article, we shall prove the new result that there exist planar digraphs with circular chromatic number r if and only if r is a rational in the interval [1,4]. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 55: 14–26, 2007     

The chromatic covering number of a graph

Following [1], we investigate the problem of covering a graph G with induced subgraphs G₁,…, G_k of possibly smaller chromatic number, but such that for every vertex u of G, the sum of reciprocals of the chromatic numbers of the G_i's containing u is at least 1. The existence of such “chromatic coverings” provides some bounds on the chromatic number of G. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Circular chromatic number and Mycielski construction

This paper gives a sufficient condition for a graph G to have its circular chromatic number equal to its chromatic number. By using this result, we prove that for any integer t ≥ 1, there exists an integer n such that for all . © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 44: 106–115, 2003     

Edge‐face chromatic number and edge chromatic number of simple plane graphs

Given a simple plane graph G, an edge‐face k‐coloring of G is a function ? : E(G) ∪ F(G) → {1,…,k} such that, for any two adjacent or incident elements a, b ∈ E(G) ∪ F(G), ?(a) ≠ ?(b). Let χ_e(G), χ_ef(G), and Δ(G) denote the edge chromatic number, the edge‐face chromatic number, and the maximum degree of G, respectively. In this paper, we prove that χ_ef(G) = χ_e(G) = Δ(G) for any 2‐connected simple plane graph G with Δ (G) ≥ 24. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

A topological lower bound for the circular chromatic number of Schrijver graphs

In this paper, we prove that the Kneser graphs defined on a ground set of n elements, where n is even, have their circular chromatic numbers equal to their chromatic numbers. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 49: 257–261, 2005     

Arc‐chromatic number of digraphs in which every vertex has bounded outdegree or bounded indegree

A k‐digraph is a digraph in which every vertex has outdegree at most k. A ‐digraph is a digraph in which a vertex has either outdegree at most k or indegree at most l. Motivated by function theory, we study the maximum value Φ (k) (resp. ) of the arc‐chromatic number over the k‐digraphs (resp. ‐digraphs). El‐Sahili [3] showed that . After giving a simple proof of this result, we show some better bounds. We show and where θ is the function defined by . We then study in more detail properties of Φ and . Finally, we give the exact values of and for . © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 53: 315–332, 2006     

About the upper chromatic number of a co-hypergraph

A mixed hypergraph consists of two families of subsets: the edges and the co-edges. In a coloring every co-edge has at least two vertices of the same color, and every edge has at least two vertices of different colors. The largest and smallest possible number of colors in a coloring is termed the upper and lower chromatic numbers, respectively. In this paper we investigate co-hypergraphs i.e., the hypergraphs with only co-edges, with respect to the property of coloring. The relationship between the lower bound of the size of co-edges and the lower bound of the upper chromatic number is explored. The necessary and sufficient conditions for determining the upper chromatic numbers, of a co-hypergraph are provided. And the bounds of the number of co-edges of some uniform co-hypergraphs with certain upper chromatic numbers are given.     

THE TOTAL CHROMATIC NUMBER OF PSEUDO-OUTERPLANAR GRAPHS

A Planar graph g is called a ipseudo outerplanar graph if there is a subset v.∈V(G),[V.]=i,such that G-V. is an outerplanar graph in particular when G-V.is a forest ,g is called a i-pseudo-tree .in this paper.the following results are proved;(1)the conjecture on the total coloring is true for all 1-pseudo-outerplanar graphs;(2)X1(G) 1 fo any 1-pseudo outerplanar graph g with △(G)≥3,where x4(G)is the total chromatic number of a graph g.     

The 6-relaxed game chromatic number of outerplanar graphs

Suppose G is a graph and k,d are integers. The (k,d)-relaxed colouring game on G is a game played by two players, Alice and Bob, who take turns colouring the vertices of G with legal colours from a set X of k colours. Here a colour i is legal for an uncoloured vertex x if after colouring x with colour i, the subgraph induced by vertices of colour i has maximum degree at most d. Alice’s goal is to have all the vertices coloured, and Bob’s goal is the opposite: to have an uncoloured vertex without a legal colour. The d-relaxed game chromatic number of G, denoted by , is the least number k so that when playing the (k,d)-relaxed colouring game on G, Alice has a winning strategy. This paper proves that if G is an outerplanar graph, then for d≥6.     

Game chromatic number of outerplanar graphs

This note proves that the game chromatic number of an outerplanar graph is at most 7. This improves the previous known upper bound of the game chromatic number of outerplanar graphs. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 30: 67–70, 1999