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 a digraph

We introduce the circular chromatic number χ_c of a digraph and establish various basic results. They show that the coloring theory for digraphs is similar to the coloring theory for undirected graphs when independent sets of vertices are replaced by acyclic sets. Since the directed k‐cycle has circular chromatic number k/(k – 1), for k ≥ 2, values of χ_c between 1 and 2 are possible. We show that in fact, χ_c takes on all rational values greater than 1. Furthermore, there exist digraphs of arbitrarily large digirth and circular chromatic number. It is NP‐complete to decide if a given digraph has χ_c at most 2. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 46: 227–240, 2004     

Vertex decompositions of sparse graphs into an edgeless subgraph and a subgraph of maximum degree at most k

A graph G is (k,0)‐colorable if its vertices can be partitioned into subsets V₁ and V₂ such that in G[V₁] every vertex has degree at most k, while G[V₂] is edgeless. For every integer k?0, we prove that every graph with the maximum average degree smaller than (3k+4)/(k+2) is (k,0)‐colorable. In particular, it follows that every planar graph with girth at least 7 is (8, 0)‐colorable. On the other hand, we construct planar graphs with girth 6 that are not (k,0)‐colorable for arbitrarily large k. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 65:83–93, 2010     

Disjoint quasi‐kernels in digraphs

A quasi‐kernel in a digraph is an independent set of vertices such that any vertex in the digraph can reach some vertex in the set via a directed path of length at most two. Chvátal and Lovász proved that every digraph has a quasi‐kernel. Recently, Gutin et al. raised the question of which digraphs have a pair of disjoint quasi‐kernels. Clearly, a digraph has a pair of disjoint quasi‐kernels cannot contain sinks, that is, vertices of outdegree zero, as each such vertex is necessarily included in a quasi‐kernel. However, there exist digraphs which contain neither sinks nor a pair of disjoint quasi‐kernels. Thus, containing no sinks is not sufficient in general for a digraph to have a pair of disjoint quasi‐kernels. In contrast, we prove that, for several classes of digraphs, the condition of containing no sinks guarantees the existence of a pair of disjoint quasi‐kernels. The classes contain semicomplete multipartite, quasi‐transitive, and locally semicomplete digraphs. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 58:251‐260, 2008     

Supereulerian bipartite digraphs

A digraph D is supereulerian if D has a spanning closed ditrail. Bang‐Jensen and Thomassé conjectured that if the arc‐strong connectivity of a digraph D is not less than the independence number , then D is supereulerian. A digraph is bipartite if its underlying graph is bipartite. Let be the size of a maximum matching of D. We prove that if D is a bipartite digraph satisfying , then D is supereulerian. Consequently, every bipartite digraph D satisfying is supereulerian. The bound of our main result is best possible.     

Spanning 2-strong tournaments in 3-strong semicomplete digraphs

We prove that every 3-strong semicomplete digraph on at least 5 vertices contains a spanning 2-strong tournament. Our proof is constructive and implies a polynomial algorithm for finding a spanning 2-strong tournament in a given 3-strong semicomplete digraph. We also show that there are infinitely many (2k−2)-strong semicomplete digraphs which contain no spanning k-strong tournament and conjecture that every(2k−1)-strong semicomplete digraph which is not the complete digraph on 2k vertices contains a spanning k-strong tournament.     

Maximum Δ‐edge‐colorable subgraphs of class II graphs

A graph G is class II, if its chromatic index is at least Δ + 1. Let H be a maximum Δ‐edge‐colorable subgraph of G. The paper proves best possible lower bounds for |E(H)|/|E(G)|, and structural properties of maximum Δ‐edge‐colorable subgraphs. It is shown that every set of vertex‐disjoint cycles of a class II graph with Δ≥3 can be extended to a maximum Δ‐edge‐colorable subgraph. Simple graphs have a maximum Δ‐edge‐colorable subgraph such that the complement is a matching. Furthermore, a maximum Δ‐edge‐colorable subgraph of a simple graph is always class I. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

Coloring plane graphs with independent crossings

We show that every plane graph with maximum face size four in which all faces of size four are vertex‐disjoint is cyclically 5‐colorable. This answers a question of Albertson whether graphs drawn in the plane with all crossings independent are 5‐colorable. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 64: 184–205, 2010     

Switching Reconstruction of Digraphs

Switching about a vertex in a digraph means to reverse the direction of every edge incident with that vertex. Bondy and Mercier introduced the problem of whether a digraph can be reconstructed up to isomorphism from the multiset of isomorphism types of digraphs obtained by switching about each vertex. Since the largest known nonreconstructible oriented graphs have eight vertices, it is natural to ask whether there are any larger nonreconstructible graphs. In this article, we continue the investigation of this question. We find that there are exactly 44 nonreconstructible oriented graphs whose underlying undirected graphs have maximum degree at most 2. We also determine the full set of switching‐stable oriented graphs, which are those graphs for which all switchings return a digraph isomorphic to the original.     

Homomorphism Bounds for Oriented Planar Graphs of Given Minimum Girth

We find necessary conditions for a digraph H to admit a homomorphism from every oriented planar graph of girth at least n, and use these to prove the existence of a planar graph of girth 6 and oriented chromatic number at least 7. We identify a ${\overleftrightarrow{K_4}}$ -free digraph of order 7 which admits a homomorphism from every oriented planar graph (here ${\overleftrightarrow{K_n}}$ means a digraph with n vertices and arcs in both directions between every distinct pair), and a ${\overleftrightarrow{K_3}}$ -free digraph of order 4 which admits a homomorphism from every oriented planar graph of girth at least 5.     

有向线图的限制性连通度

设D=（y（D）,A（D））是一个强连通有向图．弧集S A（D）称为D的k-限制性弧割,如果D-S中至少有两个强连通分支的阶数大于等于后．最小k-限制性弧割的基数称为k-限制性弧连通度,记作Ak（D）．k-限制性点连通度Kk（D）可以类似地定义．有k-限制性弧割（k-限制性点割）的有向图称为λk-连通（kk-连通）有向图．本文研究有向图D的限制性弧连通度和其线图L（D）的限制性点连通度的关系,证明了对任意λk-连通有向图D,kk（L（D））≤λk（D）,当k=2,3时等式成立;若L（D）是Kk（k-1）连通的,则λk（D）≤Kk（k-1）（L（D））;特别地,若D是一个定向图且L（D）是Kk（k-1）／2．连通的,贝0Ak（D）≤Kk（k-1）,2（L（D））．     

没有4至6-圈的平面图是(1,0,0)-可染的

设d₁, d₂,..., d_k 是k个非负整数. 若图G=(V,E) 的顶点集V可剖分成k个子集V₁, V₂,..., V_k,使得对i=1, 2,..., k 由V_i 所导出的子图G[V_i] 的最大度至多为d_i, 则称G是(d₁, d₂,..., d_k)-可染的. 著名的Steinberg 猜想断言, 每个既没有4-圈又没有5-圈的平面图是(0, 0, 0)-可染的. 对此猜想已经证明每个没有4 至7-圈的平面图是(0, 0, 0)-可染的, 但还没有发现有人证明每个没有4 至6-圈的平面图是(0, 0, 0)-可染的. 本文证明没有4 至6-圈的平面图是(1, 0, 0)-可染的.     

Sufficient Conditions for a Digraph to be Supereulerian

A (di)graph is supereulerian if it contains a spanning eulerian sub(di)graph. This property is a relaxation of hamiltonicity. Inspired by this analogy with hamiltonian cycles and by similar results in supereulerian graph theory, we analyze a number of sufficient Ore type conditions for a digraph to be supereulerian. Furthermore, we study the following conjecture due to Thomassé and the first author: if the arc‐connectivity of a digraph is not smaller than its independence number, then the digraph is supereulerian. As a support for this conjecture we prove it for digraphs that are semicomplete multipartite or quasitransitive and verify the analogous statement for undirected graphs.     

Odd 4‐edge‐colorability of graphs

An odd k‐edge‐coloring of a graph G is a (not necessarily proper) edge‐coloring with at most k colors such that each nonempty color class induces a graph in which every vertex is of odd degree. Pyber (1991) showed that every simple graph is odd 4‐edge‐colorable, and Lužar et al. (2015) showed that connected loopless graphs are odd 5‐edge‐colorable, with one particular exception that is odd 6‐edge‐colorable. In this article, we prove that connected loopless graphs are odd 4‐edge‐colorable, with two particular exceptions that are respectively odd 5‐ and odd 6‐edge‐colorable. Moreover, a color class can be reduced to a size at most 2.     

Note on a min‐max conjecture of Woodall

In 1978 Woodall [ 6 ] conjectured the following: in a planar digraph the size of a shortest cycle is equal to the maximum cardinality of a collection of disjoint tranversals of cycles. We prove that this conjecture is true when the digraph is series‐parallel. In fact, we prove a stronger weighted version that gives the latter result as a corollary. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 38: 36–41, 2001     

正圆有向图中的弧不相交的Hamilton路和圈

2012年,Bang-Jensen和Huang(J.Combin.Theory Ser.B.2012,102:701-714)证明了2-弧强的局部半完全有向图可以分解为两个弧不相交的强连通生成子图当且仅当D不是偶圈的二次幂,并提出了任意3-强的局部竞赛图中包含两个弧不相交的Hamilton圈的猜想.主要研究正圆有向图中的弧不相交的Hamilton路和Hamilton圈,并证明了任意3-弧强的正圆有向图中包含两个弧不相交的Hamilton圈和任意4-弧强的正圆有向图中包含一个Hamilton圈和两个Hamilton路,使得它们两两弧不相交.由于任意圆有向图一定是正圆有向图,所得结论可以推广到圆有向图中.又由于圆有向图是局部竞赛图的子图类,因此所得结论说明对局部竞赛图的子图类――圆有向图,Bang-Jensen和Huang的猜想成立.     

Excluding 4‐Wheels

A 4‐wheel is a graph formed by a cycle C and a vertex not in C that has at least four neighbors in C. We prove that a graph G that does not contain a 4‐wheel as a subgraph is 4‐colorable and we describe some structural properties of such a graph.     

On Triangle‐Free Graphs That Do Not Contain a Subdivision of the Complete Graph on Four Vertices as an Induced Subgraph

We prove a decomposition theorem for the class of triangle‐free graphs that do not contain a subdivision of the complete graph on four vertices as an induced subgraph. We prove that every graph of girth at least five in this class is 3‐colorable.     

Kernels of digraphs with finitely many ends

According to Richardson’s theorem, every digraph $G$ without directed odd cycles that is either (a) locally finite or (b) rayless has a kernel (an independent subset $K$ with an incoming edge from every vertex in $G?K$). We generalize this theorem showing that a digraph without directed odd cycles has a kernel when (a) for each vertex, there is a finite set separating it from all rays, or (b) each ray contains at most finitely many vertices dominating it (having an infinite fan to the ray) and the digraph has finitely many ends. The restriction to finitely many ends in (b) can be weakened, admitting infinitely many ends with a specific structure, but the possibility of dropping it remains a conjecture.     

超欧拉扩展有向图

A digraph D is supereulerian if D has a spanning eulerian subdigraph. BangJensen and Thomass′e conjectured that if the arc-strong connectivity λ(D) of a digraph D is not less than the independence number α(D), then D is supereulerian. In this paper, we prove that if D is an extended cycle, an extended hamiltonian digraph, an arc-locally semicomplete digraph, an extended arc-locally semicomplete digraph, an extension of two kinds of eulerian digraph, a hypo-semicomplete digraph or an extended hypo-semicomplete digraph satisfyingλ(D) ≥α(D), then D is supereulerian.