An edge coloring problem for graph products

The edges of the Cartesian product of graphs G × H are to be colored with the condition that all rectangles, i.e., K₂ × K₂ subgraphs, must be colored with four distinct colors. The minimum number of colors in such colorings is determined for all pairs of graphs except when G is 5-chromatic and H is 4- or 5-chromatic. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A Class of Edge Critical 4-Chromatic Graphs

We consider several constructions of edge critical 4-chromatic graphs which can be written as the union of a bipartite graph and a matching. In particular we construct such a graph G with each of the following properties: G can be contracted to a given critical 4-chromatic graph; for each n ≥ 7, G has n vertices and three matching edges (it is also shown that such graphs must have at least \({{8n} \over 5}\) edges); G has arbitrary large girth.     

An approach to hedetniemi's conjecture

For a fixed integer n ? ω, a graph G of chromatic number greater than n is called persistent if for all n + 1-chromatic graphs H, the products G × H are n + 1-chromatic graphs. Wheter all graphs of chromatic number greater than n are persistent is a long-standing open problem due to Hedetniemi. We call a graph G strongly persistent if G is persistent and the Hajos sum of G with any other persistent graph H is still persistent. This paper extends the class of known persistent graphs by proving the following results: If G is constructed from copies of K_n+1 by Hajos sums, adding vertices and edges and at most one contraction of nonadjacent vertices, then G is strongly persistent. © 1929 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Absolutely 3-chromatic graphs

A fold is a sequence of simple folds (elementary homomorphisms in which the identified vertices are both adjacent to a common vertex). It was shown in (C. R. Cook and A. B. Evans, Graph folding. Proceedings of the South Eastern Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computing, Boca Raton, 1979, pp. 305–314) that all connected n-chromatic graphs can be folded onto K_n. A connected n-chromatic graph is called absolutely n-chromatic if it can only be folded onto K_m when m = n. Some classes of absolutely n-chromatic graphs were given in Cook and Evans. In this paper, we classify the absolutely 3-chromatic graphs.     

Extremal graphs without a semi‐topological wheel

For 2≤r∈?, let S_r denote the class of graphs consisting of subdivisions of the wheel graph with r spokes in which the spoke edges are left undivided. Let ex(n, S_r) denote the maximum number of edges of a graph containing no S_r‐subgraph, and let Ex(n, S_r) denote the set of all n‐vertex graphs containing no S_r‐subgraph that are of size ex(n, S_r). In this paper, a conjecture is put forth stating that for r≥3 and n≥2r + 1, ex(n, S_r) = (r ? 1)n ? ?(r ? 1)(r ? 3/2)? and for r≥4, Ex(n, S_r) consists of a single graph which is the graph obtained from K_{r ? 1, n ? r + 1} by adding a maximum matching to the color class of cardinality r ? 1. A previous result of C. Thomassen [A minimal condition implying a special K₄‐subdivision, Archiv Math 25 (1974), 210–215] implies that this conjecture is true for r = 3. In this paper it is shown to hold for r = 4. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 68:326‐339, 2011     

The chromatic number of the product of two 4-chromatic graphs is 4

For any graphG and numbern≧1 two functionsf, g fromV(G) into {1, 2, ...,n} are adjacent if for all edges (a, b) ofG, f(a) ≠g(b). The graph of all such functions is the colouring graph ℒ(G) ofG. We establish first that χ(G)=n+1 implies χ(ℒ(G))=n iff χ(G ×H)=n+1 for all graphsH with χ(H)≧n+1. Then we will prove that indeed for all 4-chromatic graphsG χ(ℒ(G))=3 which establishes Hedetniemi’s [3] conjecture for 4-chromatic graphs. This research was supported by NSERC grant A7213     

Maximal chromatic polynomials of connected planar graphs

In this paper we obtain chromatic polynomials of connected 3- and 4-chromatic planar graphs that are maximal for positive integer-valued arguments. We also characterize the class of connected 3-chromatic graphs having the maximum number of p-colorings for p ≥ 3, thus extending a previous result by the author (the case p = 3).     

4-chromatic edge critical Grötzsch-Sachs graphs

Let G be a 4-regular plane graph and suppose that G has a cycle decomposition S (i.e., each edge of G is in exactly one cycle of the decomposition) with every pair of adjacent edges on a face always in different cycles of S. Such a graph G arises as a superposition of simple closed curves in the plane with tangencies disallowed. Two 4-chromatic edge critical graphs of order 48 generated by four curves are presented.     

Subdirect Decomposition of n-Chromatic Graphs

It is shown that any n-chromatic graph is a full subdirect product of copies of the complete graphs K _n and K _n+1, except for some easily described graphs which are full subdirect products of copies of K _n+1 - {°-°} and K _n+2 - {°-°}; full means here that the projections of the decomposition are epimorphic in edges. This improves some results of Sabidussi. Subdirect powers of K _n or K _n+1 - {°-°} are also characterized, and the subdirectly irreducibles of the quasivariety of n -colorable graphs with respect to full and ordinary decompositions are determined.     

Saturated graphs with minimal number of edges

Let F = {F₁,…} be a given class of forbidden graphs. A graph G is called F-saturated if no F_i ∈ F is a subgraph of G but the addition of an arbitrary new edge gives a forbidden subgraph. In this paper the minimal number of edges in F-saturated graphs is examined. General estimations are given and the structure of minimal graphs is described for some special forbidden graphs (stars, paths, m pairwise disjoint edges).     

Claw-free graphs are edge reconstructible

The Edge Reconstruction Conjecture states that all graphs with at least four edges are determined by their edge-deleted subgraphs. We prove that this is true for claw-free graphs, those graphs with no induced subgraph isomorphic to K_1,3. This includes line graphs as a special case.     

Partitions of graphs into cographs

Cographs form the minimal family of graphs containing K₁ that is closed with respect to complementation and disjoint union. We discuss vertex partitions of graphs into the smallest number of cographs. We introduce a new parameter, calling the minimum order of such a partition the c-chromatic number of the graph. We begin by axiomatizing several well-known graphical parameters as motivation for this function. We present several bounds on c-chromatic number in terms of well-known expressions. We show that if a graph is triangle-free, then its chromatic number is bounded between the c-chromatic number and twice this number. We show that both bounds are sharp for graphs with arbitrarily high girth. This provides an alternative proof to a result by Broere and Mynhardt; namely, there exist triangle-free graphs with arbitrarily large c-chromatic numbers. We show that any planar graph with girth at least 11 has a c-chromatic number at most two. We close with several remarks on computational complexity. In particular, we show that computing the c-chromatic number is NP-complete for planar graphs.     

A characterization of P4‐indifference graphs

A graph is a P₄‐indifference graph if it admits a linear ordering ≺ on its vertices such that every chordless path with vertices a, b, c, d and edges ab, bc, cd has either a ≺ b ≺ c ≺ d or d ≺ c ≺ b ≺ a. P₄‐indifference graphs generalize indifference graphs and are perfectly orderable. We give a characterization of P₄‐indifference graphs by forbidden induced subgraphs. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 31: 155‐162, 1999     

On the conjecture of hajós

Hajós conjectured that everys-chromatic graph contains a subdivision ofK _s, the complete graph ons vertices. Catlin disproved this conjecture. We prove that almost all graphs are counter-examles in a very strong sense.     

Edge‐decompositions of Kn,n into isomorphic copies of a given tree

We construct an incidence structure using certain points and lines in finite projective spaces. The structural properties of the associated bipartite incidence graphs are analyzed. These n × n bipartite graphs provide constructions of C₆‐free graphs with Ω(n^4/3 edges, C₁₀‐free graphs with Ω(n^6/5) edges, and Θ(7,7,7)‐free graphs with Ω(n^8/7) edges. Each of these bounds is sharp in order of magnitude. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 49: 1–10, 2005     

A Class of Three‐Colorable Triangle‐Free Graphs

The chromatic number of a triangle‐free graph can be arbitrarily large. In this article, we show that if all subdivisions of K_{2, 3} are also excluded as induced subgraphs, then the chromatic number becomes bounded by 3. We give a structural characterization of this class of graphs, from which we derive an coloring algorithm, where n denotes the number of vertices and m the number of edges of the input graph.     

Maximum packings ofK n with copies ofK 4 − e

For eachn, we determine the maximum number of pairwise edge disjoint copies ofK ₄ – e inK _n , and all possible graphs that arise from the unused edges.     

Consistency results on infinite graphs

Consistently there exist ℵ₂-chromatic graphs with no ℵ₁-chromatic subgraphs. The statement that every uncountably chromatic graph of size ℵ₁ contains an uncountably chromaticω-connected subgraph is consistent and independent. It is consistent that there is an uncountably chromatic graph of size ℵ_{ω 1} in which every subgraph with size less than ℵ_{ω 1} is countably chromatic. Partially supported by Hungarian Science Research Fund Nu. 1805.     

4-chromatic projective graphs

We construct a family of 4-chromatic graphs which embed on the projective plane, and characterize the edge-critical members. The family includes many well known graphs, and also a new sequence of graphs, which serve to improve Gallai's bound on the length of the shortest odd circuit in a 4-chromatic graph. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Coloring BIBDs with block size 4

It is shown that for each integer m ≥ 1 there exists a lower bound, v_m, with the property that for all v ≥ v_m with v ≡ 1, 4 (mod 12) there exists an m-chromatic S(2, 4, v) design. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Combin Designs 6: 403–409, 1998