On the Acyclic Chromatic Number of Hamming Graphs

An acyclic coloring of a graph G is a proper coloring of the vertex set of G such that G contains no bichromatic cycles. The acyclic chromatic number of a graph G is the minimum number k such that G has an acyclic coloring with k colors. In this paper, acyclic colorings of Hamming graphs, products of complete graphs, are considered. Upper and lower bounds on the acyclic chromatic number of Hamming graphs are given. Gretchen L. Matthews: The work of this author is supported by NSA H-98230-06-1-0008.     

Optimal acyclic edge colouring of grid like graphs

We determine the values of the acyclic chromatic index of a class of graphs referred to as d-dimensional partial tori. These are graphs which can be expressed as the cartesian product of d graphs each of which is an induced path or cycle. This class includes some known classes of graphs like d-dimensional meshes, hypercubes, tori, etc. Our estimates are exact except when the graph is a product of a path and a number of odd cycles, in which case the estimates differ by an additive factor of at most 1. Our results are also constructive and provide an optimal (or almost optimal) acyclic edge colouring in polynomial time.     

The acyclic edge chromatic number of a random d‐regular graph is d + 1

We prove the theorem from the title: the acyclic edge chromatic number of a random d‐regular graph is asymptotically almost surely equal to d + 1. This improves a result of Alon, Sudakov, and Zaks and presents further support for a conjecture that Δ(G) + 2 is the bound for the acyclic edge chromatic number of any graph G. It also represents an analog of a result of Robinson and the second author on edge chromatic number. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 49: 69–74, 2005     

On some properties of 4-regular plane graphs

The d-distance face chromatic number of a connected plane graph is the minimum number of colors in such a coloring of its faces that whenever two distinct faces are at the distance at most d, they receive distinct colors. We estimate 1-distance chromatic number for connected 4-regular plane graphs. We show that 0-distance face chromatic number of any connected multi-3-gonal 4-regular plane graphs is 4. © 1995, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Acyclic vertex coloring of graphs of maximum degree 5

An acyclic vertex coloring of a graph is a proper vertex coloring such that there are no bichromatic cycles. The acyclic chromatic number of G, denoted a(G), is the minimum number of colors required for acyclic vertex coloring of graph G. For a family F of graphs, the acyclic chromatic number of F, denoted by a(F), is defined as the maximum a(G) over all the graphs G∈F. In this paper we show that a(F)=8 where F is the family of graphs of maximum degree 5 and give a linear time algorithm to achieve this bound.     

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 generalized acyclic edge chromatic number of random regular graphs

The r‐acyclic edge chromatic number of a graph is defined to be the minimum number of colors required to produce an edge coloring of the graph such that adjacent edges receive different colors and every cycle C has at least min(|C|, r) colors. We show that (r ? 2)d is asymptotically almost surely (a.a.s.) an upper bound on the r‐acyclic edge chromatic number of a random d‐regular graph, for all constants r ≥ 4 and d ≥ 2. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 53: 101–125, 2006     

Vertex‐distinguishing edge colorings of graphs

We consider lower bounds on the the vertex‐distinguishing edge chromatic number of graphs and prove that these are compatible with a conjecture of Burris and Schelp 8 . We also find upper bounds on this number for certain regular graphs G of low degree and hence verify the conjecture for a reasonably large class of such graphs. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 42: 95–109, 2003     

Local Chromatic Number, KY Fan's Theorem, And Circular Colorings

The local chromatic number of a graph was introduced in [14]. It is in between the chromatic and fractional chromatic numbers. This motivates the study of the local chromatic number of graphs for which these quantities are far apart. Such graphs include Kneser graphs, their vertex color-critical subgraphs, the Schrijver (or stable Kneser) graphs; Mycielski graphs, and their generalizations; and Borsuk graphs. We give more or less tight bounds for the local chromatic number of many of these graphs. We use an old topological result of Ky Fan [17] which generalizes the Borsuk–Ulam theorem. It implies the existence of a multicolored copy of the complete bipartite graph K_{⌈t/2⌉,⌊t/2⌋} in every proper coloring of many graphs whose chromatic number t is determined via a topological argument. (This was in particular noted for Kneser graphs by Ky Fan [18].) This yields a lower bound of ⌈t/2⌉ + 1 for the local chromatic number of these graphs. We show this bound to be tight or almost tight in many cases. As another consequence of the above we prove that the graphs considered here have equal circular and ordinary chromatic numbers if the latter is even. This partially proves a conjecture of Johnson, Holroyd, and Stahl and was independently attained by F. Meunier [42]. We also show that odd chromatic Schrijver graphs behave differently, their circular chromatic number can be arbitrarily close to the other extreme. * Research partially supported by the Hungarian Foundation for Scientific Research Grant (OTKA) Nos. T037846, T046376, AT048826, and NK62321. † Research partially supported by the NSERC grant 611470 and the Hungarian Foundation for Scientific Research Grant (OTKA) Nos. T037846, T046234, AT048826, and NK62321.     

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     

Acyclic improper colourings of graphs with bounded maximum degree

For graphs of bounded maximum degree, we consider acyclic t-improper colourings, that is, colourings in which each bipartite subgraph consisting of the edges between two colour classes is acyclic, and each colour class induces a graph with maximum degree at most t.We consider the supremum, over all graphs of maximum degree at most d, of the acyclic t-improper chromatic number and provide t-improper analogues of results by Alon, McDiarmid and Reed [N. Alon, C.J.H. McDiarmid, B. Reed, Acyclic coloring of graphs, Random Structures Algorithms 2 (3) (1991) 277-288] and Fertin, Raspaud and Reed [G. Fertin, A. Raspaud, B. Reed, Star coloring of graphs, J. Graph Theory 47 (3) (2004) 163-182].     

Efficient algorithms for finding critical subgraphs

This paper presents algorithms to find vertex-critical and edge-critical subgraphs in a given graph G, and demonstrates how these critical subgraphs can be used to determine the chromatic number of G. Computational experiments are reported on random and DIMACS benchmark graphs to compare the proposed algorithms, as well as to find lower bounds on the chromatic number of these graphs. We improve the best known lower bound for some of these graphs, and we are even able to determine the chromatic number of some graphs for which only bounds were known.     

Acyclic improper colouring of graphs with maximum degree 4

A k-colouring(not necessarily proper) of vertices of a graph is called acyclic, if for every pair of distinct colours i and j the subgraph induced by the edges whose endpoints have colours i and j is acyclic. We consider acyclic k-colourings such that each colour class induces a graph with a given(hereditary) property. In particular, we consider acyclic k-colourings in which each colour class induces a graph with maximum degree at most t, which are referred to as acyclic t-improper k-colourings. The acyclic t-improper chromatic number of a graph G is the smallest k for which there exists an acyclic t-improper k-colouring of G. We focus on acyclic colourings of graphs with maximum degree 4. We prove that 3 is an upper bound for the acyclic 3-improper chromatic number of this class of graphs. We also provide a non-trivial family of graphs with maximum degree4 whose acyclic 3-improper chromatic number is at most 2, namely, the graphs with maximum average degree at most 3. Finally, we prove that any graph G with Δ(G) 4 can be acyclically coloured with 4 colours in such a way that each colour class induces an acyclic graph with maximum degree at most 3.     

On acyclic colorings of graphs on surfaces

A properk-coloring of a graph is acyclic if every 2-chromatic subgraph is acyclic. Borodin showed that every planar graph has an acyclic 5-coloring. This paper shows that the acyclic chromatic number of the projective plane is at most 7. The acyclic chromatic number of an arbitrary surface with Euler characteristic η=−γ is at mostO(γ^4/7). This is nearly tight; for every γ>0 there are graphs embeddable on surfaces of Euler characteristic −γ whose acyclic chromatic number is at least Ω(γ^4/7/(logγ)^1/7). Therefore, the conjecture of Borodin that the acyclic chromatic number of any surface but the plane is the same as its chromatic number is false for all surfaces with large γ (and may very well be false for all surfaces). This author's research was supported in part by a United States Israeli BSF grant. This author's research was supported by the Ministry of Research and Technology of Slovenia, Research Project P1-0210-101-92. This author's research was supported by the Office of Naval Research, grant number N00014-92-J-1965.     

Bounds for the b-chromatic number of some families of graphs

In this paper we obtain some upper bounds for the b-chromatic number of K_1,s-free graphs, graphs with given minimum clique partition and bipartite graphs. These bounds are given in terms of either the clique number or the chromatic number of a graph or the biclique number for a bipartite graph. We show that all the bounds are tight.     

On lower bounds for the chromatic number in terms of vertex degree

In this paper we discuss the existence of lower bounds for the chromatic number of graphs in terms of the average degree or the coloring number of graphs. We obtain a lower bound for the chromatic number of K_1,t-free graphs in terms of the maximum degree and show that the bound is tight. For any tree T, we obtain a lower bound for the chromatic number of any K_2,t-free and T-free graph in terms of its average degree. This answers affirmatively a modified version of Problem 4.3 in [T.R. Jensen, B. Toft, Graph Coloring Problems, Wiley, New York, 1995]. More generally, we discuss δ-bounded families of graphs and then we obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for a family of graphs to be a δ-bounded family in terms of its induced bipartite Turán number. Our last bound is in terms of forbidden induced even cycles in graphs; it extends a result in [S.E. Markossian, G.S. Gasparian, B.A. Reed, β-perfect graphs, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 67 (1996) 1–11].     

On directed local chromatic number,shift graphs,and Borsuk‐like graphs

We investigate the local chromatic number of shift graphs and prove that it is close to their chromatic number. This implies that the gap between the directed local chromatic number of an oriented graph and the local chromatic number of the underlying undirected graph can be arbitrarily large. We also investigate the minimum possible directed local chromatic number of oriented versions of “topologically t‐chromatic” graphs. We show that this minimum for large enough t‐chromatic Schrijver graphs and t‐chromatic generalized Mycielski graphs of appropriate parameters is ?t/4?+1. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 66: 65‐82, 2010     

The chromatic number of oriented graphs

We introduce in this paper the notion of the chromatic number of an oriented graph G (that is of an antisymmetric directed graph) defined as the minimum order of an oriented graph H such that G admits a homomorphism to H. We study the chromatic number of oriented k-trees and of oriented graphs with bounded degree. We show that there exist oriented k-trees with chromatic number at least 2^k+1 - 1 and that every oriented k-tree has chromatic number at most (k + 1) × 2^k. For 2-trees and 3-trees we decrease these upper bounds respectively to 7 and 16 and show that these new bounds are tight. As a particular case, we obtain that oriented outerplanar graphs have chromatic number at most 7 and that this bound is tight too. We then show that every oriented graph with maximum degree k has chromatic number at most (2k - 1) × 2^2k-2. For oriented graphs with maximum degree 2 we decrease this bound to 5 and show that this new bound is tight. For oriented graphs with maximum degree 3 we decrease this bound to 16 and conjecture that there exists no such connected graph with chromatic number greater than 7. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 25: 191–205, 1997     

Acyclic List Edge Coloring of Graphs

A proper edge coloring of a graph is said to be acyclic if any cycle is colored with at least three colors. An edge-list L of a graph G is a mapping that assigns a finite set of positive integers to each edge of G. An acyclic edge coloring ? of G such that for any is called an acyclic L-edge coloring of G. A graph G is said to be acyclically k-edge choosable if it has an acyclic L‐edge coloring for any edge‐list L that satisfies for each edge e. The acyclic list chromatic index is the least integer k such that G is acyclically k‐edge choosable. We develop techniques to obtain bounds for the acyclic list chromatic indices of outerplanar graphs, subcubic graphs, and subdivisions of Halin graphs.     

Acyclic Edge Coloring of Planar Graphs Without Small Cycles

A proper edge coloring of a graph G is called acyclic if there is no 2-colored cycle in G. The acyclic edge chromatic number of G, denoted by a′(G), is the least number of colors in an acyclic edge coloring of G. Alon et al. conjectured that a′(G) ≤ Δ(G) + 2 for any graphs. In this paper, it is shown that the conjecture holds for planar graphs without 4- and 5-cycles or without 4- and 6-cycles.