Bounds for the incidentor chromatic number of a weighted undirected multigraph

A proper incidentor coloring of an undirected weighted multigraph is called admissible if the absolute value of the difference between the colors of the incidentors of each edge is at least the weight of this edge. The minimum number of colors necessary for an admissible incidentor coloring is called the incidentor chromatic number of the multigraph. The problem of finding this number is studied in the paper. The NP-hardness of this problem is proved for Δ colors. Some upper and lower bounds are found for the incidentor chromatic number.     

On (1,<Emphasis Type="Italic">l</Emphasis>)-coloring of incidentors of multigraphs

It is proved that if l is at least Δ/2 ? 1 then (1, l)-chromatic number of an arbitrary multigraph of maximum degree Δ is at most Δ+1. Moreover, it is proved that the incidentors of every directed prism can be colored in four colors so that every two adjacent incidentors are colored distinctly and the difference between the colors of the final and initial incidentors of each arc is 1.     

On list incidentor (<Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">l</Emphasis>)-coloring

A proper incidentor coloring is called a (k, l)-coloring if the difference between the colors of the final and initial incidentors ranges between k and l. In the list variant, the extra restriction is added: the color of each incidentor must belong to the set of admissible colors of the arc. In order to make this restriction reasonable we assume that the set of admissible colors for each arc is an integer interval. The minimum length of the interval that guarantees the existence of a list incidentor (k, l)-coloring is called a list incidentor (k, l)-chromatic number. Some bounds for the list incidentor (k, l)-chromatic number are proved for multigraphs of degree 2 and 4.     

On list incidentor coloring of a multigraph of degree 3

It is shown that if the number of colors in a list of each arc of a directed multigraph of degree 3 is at least the weight of this arc plus 3 then the incidentors of this multigraph can be colored according to these lists.     

The edge chromatic number of a directed/mixed multigraph

We consider colorings of the directed and undirected edges of a mixed multigraph G by an ordered set of colors. We color each undirected edge in one color and each directed edge in two colors, such that the color of the first half of a directed edge is smaller than the color of the second half. The colors used at the same vertex are all different. A bound for the minimum number of colors needed for such colorings is obtained. In the case where G has only directed edges, we provide a polynomal algorithm for coloring G with a minimum number of colors. An unsolved problem is formulated. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 31: 267–273, 1999     

Erratum to “Edge-choosability in line-perfect multigraphs” [Discrete Mathematics 202 (1999) 191]

A multigraph is line perfect if its line graph is perfect. In (Discrete Math. 202 (1999) 191) we claimed that if every edge e of a line-perfect multigraph G is given a list containing at least as many colors as there are edges in a largest edge-clique containing e, then G can be edge-colored from its lists. This note corrects a mistake in our proof.     

Upper bounds on vertex distinguishing chromatic index of some Halin graphs

A vertex distinguishing edge coloring of a graph G is a proper edge coloring of G such that any pair of vertices has the distinct sets of colors. The minimum number of colors required for a vertex distinguishing edge coloring of a graph G is denoted by ???? _s (G). In this paper, we obtained upper bounds on the vertex distinguishing chromatic index of 3-regular Halin graphs and Halin graphs with ??(G) ?? 4, respectively.     

The harmonious coloring problem is NP-complete for interval and permutation graphs

In this paper, we prove that the harmonious coloring problem is NP-complete for connected interval and permutation graphs. Given a simple graph G, a harmonious coloring of G is a proper vertex coloring such that each pair of colors appears together on at most one edge. The harmonious chromatic number is the least integer k for which G admits a harmonious coloring with k colors. Extending previous work on the NP-completeness of the harmonious coloring problem when restricted to the class of disconnected graphs which are simultaneously cographs and interval graphs, we prove that the problem is also NP-complete for connected interval and permutation graphs.     

Improved upper bounds on acyclic edge colorings

An acyclic edge coloring of a graph is a proper edge coloring such that every cycle contains edges of at least three distinct colors.The acyclic chromatic index of a graph G,denoted by a′(G),is the minimum number k such that there is an acyclic edge coloring using k colors.It is known that a′(G)≤16△for every graph G where △denotes the maximum degree of G.We prove that a′(G)13.8△for an arbitrary graph G.We also reduce the upper bounds of a′(G)to 9.8△and 9△with girth 5 and 7,respectively.     

Improved bounds on linear coloring of plane graphs

A proper vertex coloring of a graph G is linear if the graph induced by the vertices of any two color classes is the union of vertex-disjoint paths. The linear chromatic number lc(G) of the graph G is the smallest number of colors in a linear coloring of G. In this paper, we give some upper bounds on linear chromatic number for plane graphs with respect to their girth, that improve some results of Raspaud and Wang (2009).     

Cyclic colorings of plane graphs with independent faces

Let G be a plane graph with maximum face size Δ^∗. If all faces of G with size four or more are vertex disjoint, then G has a cyclic coloring with Δ^∗+1 colors, i.e., a coloring such that all vertices incident with the same face receive distinct colors.     

Multicoloring the incidentors of a weighted undirected multigraph

Under consideration are the undirected multigraphs with weighted edges. In multicoloring incidentors, to each incidentor there is assigned a multicolor; i.e., an interval of colors whose length is equal to the weight of the incidentor. A multicoloring is proper if the multicolors of every two adjacent or mated incidentors are disjoint. We give some lower and upper estimates for the minimal number of colors necessary for a proper multicoloring of all incidentors of a graph.     

Weak acyclic coloring and asymmetric coloring games

We introduce the notion of weak acyclic coloring of a graph. This is a relaxation of the usual notion of acyclic coloring which is often sufficient for applications. We then use this concept to analyze the (a,b)-coloring game. This game is played on a finite graph G, using a set of colors X, by two players Alice and Bob with Alice playing first. On each turn Alice (Bob) chooses a (b) uncolored vertices and properly colors them with colors from X. Alice wins if the players eventually create a proper coloring of G; otherwise Bob wins when one of the players has no legal move. The (a,b)-game chromatic number of G, denoted (a,b)-χ_g(G), is the least integer t such that Alice has a winning strategy when the game is played on G using t colors. We show that if the weak acyclic chromatic number of G is at most k then (2,1)-.     

Acyclic edge coloring of subcubic graphs

An acyclic edge coloring of a graph is a proper edge coloring such that there are no bichromatic cycles. The acyclic chromatic index of a graph is the minimum number k such that there is an acyclic edge coloring using k colors and it is denoted by a^′(G). From a result of Burnstein it follows that all subcubic graphs are acyclically edge colorable using five colors. This result is tight since there are 3-regular graphs which require five colors. In this paper we prove that any non-regular connected graph of maximum degree 3 is acyclically edge colorable using at most four colors. This result is tight since all edge maximal non-regular connected graphs of maximum degree 3 require four colors.     

A New Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm for the Lower Bound of Sum Coloring Problem

We consider an undirected graph G?=?(V, E), the minimum sum coloring problem (MSCP) asks to find a valid vertex coloring of G, using natural numbers (1,2,...), the aim is to minimize the total sum of colors. In this paper we are interested in the elaboration of an approximate solution for the minimum sum coloring problem (MSCP), more exactly we try to give a lower bound for MSCP by looking for a decomposition of the graph based on the metaheuristic of ant colony optimization (ACO). We test different instances to validate our approach.     

Neighbor Sum Distinguishing Index

We consider proper edge colorings of a graph G using colors of the set {1, . . . , k}. Such a coloring is called neighbor sum distinguishing if for any pair of adjacent vertices x and y the sum of colors taken on the edges incident to x is different from the sum of colors taken on the edges incident to y. The smallest value of k in such a coloring of G is denoted by ndi_Σ(G). In the paper we conjecture that for any connected graph G ≠ C ₅ of order n ≥ 3 we have ndi_Σ(G) ≤ Δ(G) + 2. We prove this conjecture for several classes of graphs. We also show that ndi_Σ(G) ≤ 7Δ(G)/2 for any graph G with Δ(G) ≥ 2 and ndi_Σ(G) ≤ 8 if G is cubic.     

Upper bounds for harmonious colorings

A harmonious coloring of a simple graph G is a coloring of the vertices such that adjacent vertices receive distinct colors and each pair of colors appears together on at most one edge. The harmonious chromatic number h(G) is the least number of colors in such a coloring. We improve an upper bound on h(G) due to Lee and Mitchem, and give upper bounds for related quantities.     

The skew chromatic index of a graph

We define a skew edge coloring of a graph to be a set of two edge colorings such that no two edges are assigned the same unordered pair of colors. The skew chromatic index s(G) is the minimum number of colors required for a skew edge coloring of G. We show that this concept is closely related to that of skew Room squares and use this relation to prove that s(G) is at most o(G) + 4. We also find better upper bounds for s(G) when G is cyclic, cubic, or bipartite. In particular we use a construction involving Latin squares to show that if G is complete bipartite of order 2n, s(G) is bounded above by roughly $\text{3n}\text{2}$.     

Linear Coloring of Planar Graphs Without 4-Cycles

A proper vertex coloring of a graph G is linear if the graph induced by the vertices of any two color classes is the union of vertex-disjoint paths. The linear chromatic number lc(G) of G is the smallest number of colors in a linear coloring of G. In this paper, we prove that if G is a planar graph without 4-cycles, then lc ${(G)\le \lceil \frac {\Delta}2\rceil+8}$ , where Δ denotes the maximum degree of G.     

Relative colorings of graphs

In this paper, the notion of relative chromatic number χ(G, H) for a pair of graphs G, H, with H a full subgraph of G, is formulated; namely, χ(G, H) is the minimum number of new colors needed to extend any coloring of H to a coloring of G. It is shown that the four color conjecture (4CC) is equivalent to the conjecture (R4CC) that χ(G, H) ≤ 4 for any (possibly empty) full subgraph H of a planar graph G and also to the conjecture (CR3CC) that χ(G, H) ≤ 3 if H is a connected and nonempty full subgraph of planar G. Finally, relative coloring theorems on surfaces other than the plane or sphere are proved.