Remarks on the distribution of colors in Gallai colorings

A Gallai coloring of a complete graph $K_n$ is an edge coloring without triangles colored with three different colors. A sequence $e_1\ge \cdots \ge e_k$ of positive integers is an $(n,k)$-sequence if ${\sum }_{i=1}^k{e}_i=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{2}\right)$. An $(n,k)$-sequence is a G-sequence if there is a Gallai coloring of $K_n$ with $k$ colors such that there are $e_i$ edges of color $i$ for all $i,1\le i\le k$. Gyárfás, Pálvölgyi, Patkós and Wales proved that for any integer $k\ge 3$ there exists an integer $g\left(k\right)$ such that every $(n,k)$-sequence is a G-sequence if and only if $n\ge g\left(k\right)$. They showed that $g\left(3\right)=5,g\left(4\right)=8$ and $2k-2\le g\left(k\right)\le 8k^2+1$.We show that $g\left(5\right)=10$ and give almost matching lower and upper bounds for $g\left(k\right)$ by showing that with suitable constants $\alpha ,\beta >0$, $\frac{\alpha k^{1.5}}{lnk}\le g\left(k\right)\le \beta k^{1.5}$ for all sufficiently large $k$.     

Edge colorings of complete graphs without tricolored triangles

We show some consequences of results of Gallai concerning edge colorings of complete graphs that contain no tricolored triangles. We prove two conjectures of Bialostocki and Voxman about the existence of special monochromatic spanning trees in such colorings. We also determine the size of largest monochromatic stars guaranteed to occur. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 46: 211–216, 2004     

Gallai colorings of non-complete graphs

Gallai-colorings of complete graphs-edge colorings such that no triangle is colored with three distinct colors-occur in various contexts such as the theory of partially ordered sets (in Gallai’s original paper), information theory and the theory of perfect graphs. We extend here Gallai-colorings to non-complete graphs and study the analogue of a basic result-any Gallai-colored complete graph has a monochromatic spanning tree-in this more general setting. We show that edge colorings of a graph H without multicolored triangles contain monochromatic connected subgraphs with at least (α(H)²+α(H)−1)⁻¹|V(H)| vertices, where α(H) is the independence number of H. In general, we show that if the edges of an r-uniform hypergraph H are colored so that there is no multicolored copy of a fixed F then there is a monochromatic connected subhypergraph H₁⊆H such that |V(H₁)|≥c|V(H)| where c depends only on F, r, and α(H).     

On Ramsey‐type positional games

Let K denote the graph obtained from the complete graph K_s+t by deleting the edges of some K_t‐subgraph. We prove that for each fixed s and sufficiently large t, every graph with chromatic number s+t has a K minor. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 65: 343–350, 2010     

A Ramsey‐type result for the hypercube

We prove that for every fixed k and ? ≥ 5 and for sufficiently large n, every edge coloring of the hypercube Q_n with k colors contains a monochromatic cycle of length 2 ?. This answers an open question of Chung. Our techniques provide also a characterization of all subgraphs H of the hypercube which are Ramsey, that is, have the property that for every k, any k‐edge coloring of a sufficiently large Q_n contains a monochromatic copy of H. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 53: 196–208, 2006     

Improved Upper Bounds for Gallai–Ramsey Numbers of Paths and Cycles

Given a graph G and a positive integer k, define the Gallai–Ramsey number to be the minimum number of vertices n such that any k‐edge coloring of contains either a rainbow (all different colored) triangle or a monochromatic copy of G. In this work, we improve upon known upper bounds on the Gallai–Ramsey numbers for paths and cycles. All these upper bounds now have the best possible order of magnitude as functions of k.     

Mean Ramsey–Turán numbers

A ρ‐mean coloring of a graph is a coloring of the edges such that the average number of colors incident with each vertex is at most ρ. For a graph H and for ρ ≥ 1, the mean Ramsey–Turán number RT(n, H,ρ ? mean) is the maximum number of edges a ρ‐mean colored graph with n vertices can have under the condition it does not have a monochromatic copy of H. It is conjectured that where is the maximum number of edges a k edge‐colored graph with n vertices can have under the condition it does not have a monochromatic copy of H. We prove the conjecture holds for . We also prove that . This result is tight for graphs H whose clique number equals their chromatic number. In particular, we get that if H is a 3‐chromatic graph having a triangle then . © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 53: 126–134, 2006     

A Ramsey‐type problem and the Turán numbers*

For each n and k, we examine bounds on the largest number m so that for any k‐coloring of the edges of K_n there exists a copy of K_m whose edges receive at most k?1 colors. We show that for , the largest value of m is asymptotically equal to the Turá number , while for any constant then the largest m is asymptotically larger than that Turá number. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 40: 120–129, 2002     

The minimum degree of Ramsey‐minimal graphs

We write H → G if every 2‐coloring of the edges of graph H contains a monochromatic copy of graph G. A graph H is G‐minimal if H → G, but for every proper subgraph H′ of H, H′ ? G. We define s(G) to be the minimum s such that there exists a G‐minimal graph with a vertex of degree s. We prove that s(K_k) = (k ? 1)² and s(K_a,b) = 2 min(a,b) ? 1. We also pose several related open problems. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 54: 167–177, 2007     

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     

On list‐coloring outerplanar graphs

We prove that a 2‐connected, outerplanar bipartite graph (respectively, outerplanar near‐triangulation) with a list of colors L (v ) for each vertex v such that (resp., ) can be L‐list‐colored (except when the graph is K₃ with identical 2‐lists). These results are best possible for each condition in the hypotheses and bounds. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 59: 59–74, 2008     

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     

Extensions of Gallai–Ramsey results

Consider the graph consisting of a triangle with a pendant edge. We describe the structure of rainbow ‐free edge colorings of a complete graph and provide some corresponding Gallai–Ramsey results. In particular, we extend a result of Gallai to find a partition of the vertices of a rainbow ‐free colored complete graph with a limited number of colors between the parts. We also extend some Gallai–Ramsey results of Chung and Graham, Faudree et al. and Gyárfás et al. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

Hall number for list colorings of graphs: Extremal results

Given a graph G=(V,E) and sets L(v) of allowed colors for each v∈V, a list coloring of G is an assignment of colors φ(v) to the vertices, such that φ(v)∈L(v) for all v∈V and φ(u)≠φ(v) for all uv∈E. The choice number of G is the smallest natural number k admitting a list coloring for G whenever |L(v)|≥k holds for every vertex v. This concept has an interesting variant, called Hall number, where an obvious necessary condition for colorability is put as a restriction on the lists L(v). (On complete graphs, this condition is equivalent to the well-known one in Hall’s Marriage Theorem.) We prove that vertex deletion or edge insertion in a graph of order n>3 may make the Hall number decrease by as much as n−3. This estimate is tight for all n. Tightness is deduced from the upper bound that every graph of order n has Hall number at most n−2. We also characterize the cases of equality; for n≥6 these are precisely the graphs whose complements are K₂∪(n−2)K₁, P₄∪(n−4)K₁, and C₅∪(n−5)K₁. Our results completely solve a problem raised by Hilton, Johnson and Wantland [A.J.W. Hilton, P.D. Johnson, Jr., E. B. Wantland, The Hall number of a simple graph, Congr. Numer. 121 (1996), 161-182, Problem 7] in terms of the number of vertices, and strongly improve some estimates due to Hilton and Johnson [A.J.W. Hilton, P.D. Johnson, Jr., The Hall number, the Hall index, and the total Hall number of a graph, Discrete Appl. Math. 94 (1999), 227-245] as a function of maximum degree.     

A note on the monotonicity of mixed Ramsey numbers

For two graphs, G and H, an edge coloring of a complete graph is (G,H)-good if there is no monochromatic subgraph isomorphic to G and no rainbow subgraph isomorphic to H in this coloring. The set of numbers of colors used by (G,H)-good colorings of K_n is called a mixed Ramsey spectrum. This note addresses a fundamental question of whether the spectrum is an interval. It is shown that the answer is “yes” if G is not a star and H does not contain a pendant edge.     

Finding paths between 3‐colorings

Given a 3‐colorable graph G together with two proper vertex 3‐colorings α and β of G, consider the following question: is it possible to transform α into β by recoloring vertices of G one at a time, making sure that all intermediate colorings are proper 3‐colorings? We prove that this question is answerable in polynomial time. We do so by characterizing the instances G, α, β where the transformation is possible; the proof of this characterization is via an algorithm that either finds a sequence of recolorings between α and β, or exhibits a structure which proves that no such sequence exists. In the case that a sequence of recolorings does exist, the algorithm uses O(|V(G)|²) recoloring steps and in many cases returns a shortest sequence of recolorings. We also exhibit a class of instances G, α, β that require Ω(|V(G)|²) recoloring steps. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 67: 69‐82, 2011     

Exponentially many 4‐list‐colorings of triangle‐free graphs on surfaces

Thomassen proved that every planar graph G on n vertices has at least distinct L‐colorings if L is a 5‐list‐assignment for G and at least distinct L‐colorings if L is a 3‐list‐assignment for G and G has girth at least five. Postle and Thomas proved that if G is a graph on n vertices embedded on a surface Σ of genus g, then there exist constants such that if G has an L‐coloring, then G has at least distinct L‐colorings if L is a 5‐list‐assignment for G or if L is a 3‐list‐assignment for G and G has girth at least five. More generally, they proved that there exist constants such that if G is a graph on n vertices embedded in a surface Σ of fixed genus g, H is a proper subgraph of G, and ϕ is an L‐coloring of H that extends to an L‐coloring of G, then ϕ extends to at least distinct L‐colorings of G if L is a 5‐list‐assignment or if L is a 3‐list‐assignment and G has girth at least five. We prove the same result if G is triangle‐free and L is a 4‐list‐assignment of G, where , and .