On colorings of graph powers

In this paper, some results concerning the colorings of graph powers are presented. The notion of helical graphs is introduced. We show that such graphs are hom-universal with respect to high odd-girth graphs whose (2t+1)th power is bounded by a Kneser graph according to the homomorphism order. Also, we consider the problem of existence of homomorphism to odd cycles. We prove that such homomorphism to a (2k+1)-cycle exists if and only if the chromatic number of the (2k+1)th power of is less than or equal to 3, where is the 3-subdivision of G. We also consider Nešet?il’s Pentagon problem. This problem is about the existence of high girth cubic graphs which are not homomorphic to the cycle of size five. Several problems which are closely related to Nešet?il’s problem are introduced and their relations are presented.     

Consecutive colorings of graphs

In a simple graphG=(X.E) a positive integerc _i is associated with every nodei. We consider node colorings where nodei receives a setS(i) ofc _i consecutive colors andS(i)S(j)=Ø whenever nodesi andj are linked inG. Upper bounds on the minimum number of colors needed are derived. The case of perfect graphs is discussed.

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Zusammenfassung In einem schlichten GraphenG=(X, E) gibt man jedem Knotenpunkti einen positiven ganzzahligen Wertc _i. Wir betrachten Färbungen der Knotenpunkte, bei denen jeder Knotenpunkti eine MengeS(i) vonc _i konsekutiven Farben erhält mitS(i)S(j)=Ø wenn die Kante [i.j] existiert. Obere Grenzen für die minimale Anzahl der Farben solcher Färbungen werden hergeleitet. Der Fall der perfekten Graphen wird auch kurz diskutiert.

     

Injective colorings of planar graphs with few colors

An injective coloring of a graph is a vertex coloring where two vertices have distinct colors if a path of length two exists between them. In this paper some results on injective colorings of planar graphs with few colors are presented. We show that all planar graphs of girth ≥ 19 and maximum degree Δ are injectively Δ-colorable. We also show that all planar graphs of girth ≥ 10 are injectively (Δ+1)-colorable, that Δ+4 colors are sufficient for planar graphs of girth ≥ 5 if Δ is large enough, and that subcubic planar graphs of girth ≥ 7 are injectively 5-colorable.     

Equitable edge‐colorings of simple graphs

An edge‐coloring of a graph G is equitable if, for each v∈V(G), the number of edges colored with any one color incident with v differs from the number of edges colored with any other color incident with v by at most one. A new sufficient condition for equitable edge‐colorings of simple graphs is obtained. This result covers the previous results, which are due to Hilton and de Werra, verifies a conjecture made by Hilton recently, and substantially extends it to a more general class of graphs. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 66:175‐197, 2011     

The neighborhood complex of a random graph

For a graph G, the neighborhood complex N[G] is the simplicial complex having all subsets of vertices with a common neighbor as its faces. It is a well-known result of Lovász that if ‖N[G]‖ is k-connected, then the chromatic number of G is at least k+3.We prove that the connectivity of the neighborhood complex of a random graph is tightly concentrated, almost always between 1/2 and 2/3 of the expected clique number. We also show that the number of dimensions of nontrivial homology is almost always small, O(logd), compared to the expected dimension d of the complex itself.     

Mixed graph edge coloring

We are interested in coloring the edges of a mixed graph, i.e., a graph containing unoriented and oriented edges. This problem is related to a communication problem in job-shop scheduling systems. In this paper we give general bounds on the number of required colors and analyze the complexity status of this problem. In particular, we provide NP-completeness results for the case of outerplanar graphs, as well as for 3-regular bipartite graphs (even when only 3 colors are allowed, or when 5 colors are allowed and the graph is fully oriented). Special cases admitting polynomial-time solutions are also discussed.     

Conditional colorings of graphs

For an integer r>0, a conditional(k,r)-coloring of a graph G is a proper k-coloring of the vertices of G such that every vertex of degree at least r in G will be adjacent to vertices with at least r different colors. The smallest integer k for which a graph G has a conditional (k,r)-coloring is the rth order conditional chromatic number χ_r(G). In this paper, the behavior and bounds of conditional chromatic number of a graph G are investigated.     

On some colorings of a double graph

In this note, we present some results concerning the chromatic index, the total chromatic index, the adjacent vertex distinguishing chromatic index and the adjacent vertex distinguishing total chromatic index for double graphs. In particular, we study the double graphs of class 1 and of type 1.     

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     

Minimum sum edge colorings of multicycles

In the minimum sum edge coloring problem, we aim to assign natural numbers to edges of a graph, so that adjacent edges receive different numbers, and the sum of the numbers assigned to the edges is minimum. The chromatic edge strength of a graph is the minimum number of colors required in a minimum sum edge coloring of this graph. We study the case of multicycles, defined as cycles with parallel edges, and give a closed-form expression for the chromatic edge strength of a multicycle, thereby extending a theorem due to Berge. It is shown that the minimum sum can be achieved with a number of colors equal to the chromatic index. We also propose simple algorithms for finding a minimum sum edge coloring of a multicycle. Finally, these results are generalized to a large family of minimum cost coloring problems.     

Locally restricted colorings

We consider the following problem: given suitable integers χ and p, what is the smallest value ρ such that, for any graph G with chromatic number χ and any vertex coloring of G with at most χ+p colors, there is a vertex v such that at least χ different colors occur within distance ρ of v? Let ρ(χ,p) be this value; we show in particular that ρ(χ,p)?⌈p/2⌉+1 for all χ,p. We give the exact value of ρ when p=0 or χ?3, and (χ,p)=(4,1) or (4,2).     

The number of defective colorings of graphs on surfaces

A (k, 1)‐coloring of a graph is a vertex‐coloring with k colors such that each vertex is permitted at most 1 neighbor of the same color. We show that every planar graph has at least cρⁿ distinct (4, 1)‐colorings, where c is constant and ρ≈1.466 satisfies ρ³ = ρ² + 1. On the other hand for any ε>0, we give examples of planar graphs with fewer than c(? + ε)ⁿ distinct (4, 1)‐colorings, where c is constant and . Let γ(S) denote the chromatic number of a surface S. For every surface S except the sphere, we show that there exists a constant c′ = c′(S)>0 such that every graph embeddable in S has at least c′2ⁿ distinct (γ(S), 1)‐colorings. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 28:129‐136, 2011     

Acyclic edge colorings of graphs

A proper coloring of the edges 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. For certain graphs G, a′(G) ≥ Δ(G) + 2 where Δ(G) is the maximum degree in G. It is known that a′(G) ≤ 16 Δ(G) for any graph G. We prove that there exists a constant c such that a′(G) ≤ Δ(G) + 2 for any graph G whose girth is at least cΔ(G) log Δ(G), and conjecture that this upper bound for a′(G) holds for all graphs G. We also show that a′(G) ≤ Δ + 2 for almost all Δ‐regular graphs. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 37: 157–167, 2001     

Equitable colorings of Kronecker products of graphs

For a positive integer k, a graph G is equitably k-colorable if there is a mapping f:V(G)→{1,2,…,k} such that f(x)≠f(y) whenever xy∈E(G) and ||f⁻¹(i)|−|f⁻¹(j)||≤1 for 1≤i<j≤k. The equitable chromatic number of a graph G, denoted by χ₌(G), is the minimum k such that G is equitably k-colorable. The equitable chromatic threshold of a graph G, denoted by , is the minimum t such that G is equitably k-colorable for k≥t. The current paper studies equitable chromatic numbers of Kronecker products of graphs. In particular, we give exact values or upper bounds on χ₌(G×H) and when G and H are complete graphs, bipartite graphs, paths or cycles.     

Split and balanced colorings of complete graphs

An (r, n)-split coloring of a complete graph is an edge coloring with r colors under which the vertex set is partitionable into r parts so that for each i, part i does not contain K_n in color i. This generalizes the notion of split graphs which correspond to (2, 2)-split colorings. The smallest N for which the complete graph K_N has a coloring which is not (r, n)-split is denoted by ƒ_r(n). Balanced (r,n)-colorings are defined as edge r-colorings of KN such that every subset of [N/r] vertices contains a monochromatic K_n in all colors. Then g_r(n) is defined as the smallest N such that K_N has a balanced (r, n)-coloring. The definitions imply that f_r(n) g_r(n). The paper gives estimates and exact values of these functions for various choices of parameters.     

Acyclic and star colorings of cographs

An acyclic coloring of a graph is a proper vertex coloring such that the union of any two color classes induces a disjoint collection of trees. The more restricted notion of star coloring requires that the union of any two color classes induces a disjoint collection of stars. We prove that every acyclic coloring of a cograph is also a star coloring and give a linear-time algorithm for finding an optimal acyclic and star coloring of a cograph. If the graph is given in the form of a cotree, the algorithm runs in O(n) time. We also show that the acyclic chromatic number, the star chromatic number, the treewidth plus 1, and the pathwidth plus 1 are all equal for cographs.     

Total colorings of planar graphs with large maximum degree

It is proved that a planar graph with maximum degree Δ ≥ 11 has total (vertex-edge) chromatic number $Delta; + 1. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 26: 53–59, 1997