Complexity of clique‐coloring odd‐hole‐free graphs

In this paper we investigate the problem of clique‐coloring, which consists in coloring the vertices of a graph in such a way that no monochromatic maximal clique appears, and we focus on odd‐hole‐free graphs. On the one hand we do not know any odd‐hole‐free graph that is not 3‐clique‐colorable, but on the other hand it is NP‐hard to decide if they are 2‐clique‐colorable, and we do not know if there exists any bound k₀ such that they are all k₀ ‐clique‐colorable. First we will prove that (odd hole, codiamond)‐free graphs are 2‐clique‐colorable. Then we will demonstrate that the complexity of 2‐clique‐coloring odd‐hole‐free graphs is actually Σ₂ P‐complete. Finally we will study the complexity of deciding whether or not a graph and all its subgraphs are 2‐clique‐colorable. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 62: 139–156, 2009     

Polychromatic colorings of bounded degree plane graphs

A polychromatic k‐coloring of a plane graph G is an assignment of k colors to the vertices of G such that every face of G has all k colors on its boundary. For a given plane graph G, one seeks the maximum number k such that G admits a polychromatic k ‐coloring. In this paper, it is proven that every connected plane graph of order at least three, and maximum degree three, other than K₄ or a subdivision of K₄ on five vertices, admits a 3‐coloring in the regular sense (i.e., no monochromatic edges) that is also a polychromatic 3‐coloring. Our proof is constructive and implies a polynomial‐time algorithm. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 60: 269‐283, 2009     

Planar graphs without 4‐cycles are acyclically 6‐choosable

A proper vertex coloring of a graph G=(V, E) is acyclic if G contains no bicolored cycle. A graph G is acyclically L‐list colorable if for a given list assignment L={L(v)|v∈V}, there exists a proper acyclic coloring π of G such that π(v)∈L(v) for all v∈V. If G is acyclically L‐list colorable for any list assignment with |L(v)|≥k for all v∈V, then G is acyclically k‐choosable. In this paper we prove that every planar graph G without 4‐cycles is acyclically 6‐choosable. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 61: 307–323, 2009     

List total colorings of series-parallel graphs

A total coloring of a graph G is a coloring of all elements of G, i.e., vertices and edges, in such a way that no two adjacent or incident elements receive the same color. Let L(x) be a set of colors assigned to each element x of G. Then a list total coloring of G is a total coloring such that each element x receives a color contained in L(x). The list total coloring problem asks whether G has a list total coloring. In this paper, we first show that the list total coloring problem is NP-complete even for series-parallel graphs. We then give a sufficient condition for a series-parallel graph to have a list total coloring, that is, we prove a theorem that any series-parallel graph G has a list total coloring if |L(v)|min{5,Δ+1} for each vertex v and |L(e)|max{5,d(v)+1,d(w)+1} for each edge e=vw, where Δ is the maximum degree of G and d(v) and d(w) are the degrees of the ends v and w of e, respectively. The theorem implies that any series-parallel graph G has a total coloring with Δ+1 colors if Δ4. We finally present a linear-time algorithm to find a list total coloring of a given series-parallel graph G if G satisfies the sufficient condition.     

图的半强积的邻点可区别染色

两个简单图G与H的半强积G·H是具有顶点集V(G)×V(H)的简单图,其中两个顶点(u,v)与(u',v')相邻当且仅当u=u'且vv'∈E(H),或uu'∈E(G)且vv'∈E(H).图的邻点可区别边(全)染色是指相邻点具有不同色集的正常边(全)染色.统称图的邻点可区别边染色与邻点可区别全染色为图的邻点可区别染色.图G的邻点可区别染色所需的最少的颜色数称为邻点可区别染色数,并记为X_a~((r))(G),其中r=1,2,且X_a~((1))(G)与X_a~((2))(G)分别表示G的邻点可区别的边色数与全色数.给出了两个简单图的半强积的邻点可区别染色数的一个上界,并证明了该上界是可达的.然后,讨论了两个树的不同半强积具有相同邻点可区别染色数的充分必要条件.另外,确定了一类图与完全图的半强积的邻点可区别染色数的精确值.     

Maximizing H‐Colorings of a Regular Graph

For graphs G and H, a homomorphism from G to H, or H‐coloring of G, is an adjacency preserving map from the vertex set of G to the vertex set of H. Our concern in this article is the maximum number of H‐colorings admitted by an n‐vertex, d‐regular graph, for each H. Specifically, writing for the number of H‐colorings admitted by G, we conjecture that for any simple finite graph H (perhaps with loops) and any simple finite n‐vertex, d‐regular, loopless graph G, we have where is the complete bipartite graph with d vertices in each partition class, and is the complete graph on vertices.Results of Zhao confirm this conjecture for some choices of H for which the maximum is achieved by . Here, we exhibit for the first time infinitely many nontrivial triples for which the conjecture is true and for which the maximum is achieved by .We also give sharp estimates for and in terms of some structural parameters of H. This allows us to characterize those H for which is eventually (for all sufficiently large d) larger than and those for which it is eventually smaller, and to show that this dichotomy covers all nontrivial H. Our estimates also allow us to obtain asymptotic evidence for the conjecture in the following form. For fixed H, for all d‐regular G, we have where as . More precise results are obtained in some special cases.     

Destroying Noncomplete Regular Components in Graph Partitions

We prove that if G is a graph and such that then can be partitioned into sets such that and contains no noncomplete ‐regular components for each . In particular, the vertex set of any graph G can be partitioned into sets, each of which induces a disjoint union of triangles and paths.     

Equitable List Coloring of Graphs with Bounded Degree

A graph G is equitably k‐choosable if for every k‐list assignment L there exists an L‐coloring of G such that every color class has at most vertices. We prove results toward the conjecture that every graph with maximum degree at most r is equitably ‐choosable. In particular, we confirm the conjecture for and show that every graph with maximum degree at most r and at least r³ vertices is equitably ‐choosable. Our proofs yield polynomial algorithms for corresponding equitable list colorings.     

Acyclic Chromatic Indices of Planar Graphs with Girth At Least 4

An acyclic edge coloring of a graph G is a proper edge coloring such that no bichromatic cycles are produced. The acyclic chromatic index of G is the smallest integer k such that G has an acyclic edge coloring using k colors. Fiamik (Math. Slovaca 28 (1978), 139–145) and later Alon et al. (J Graph Theory 37 (2001), 157–167) conjectured that for any simple graph G with maximum degree Δ. In this article, we confirm this conjecture for planar graphs of girth at least 4.