The Roman <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-domatic number of a graph

Let k be a positive integer. A Roman k-dominating function on a graph G is a labeling f: V (G) → {0, 1, 2} such that every vertex with label 0 has at least k neighbors with label 2. A set {f ₁, f ₂, …, f _d } of distinct Roman k-dominating functions on G with the property that Σ _i=1 ^d f _i (v) ≤ 2 for each v ∈ V (G), is called a Roman k-dominating family (of functions) on G. The maximum number of functions in a Roman k-dominating family on G is the Roman k-domatic number of G, denoted by d _kR (G). Note that the Roman 1-domatic number d _1R (G) is the usual Roman domatic number d _R (G). In this paper we initiate the study of the Roman k-domatic number in graphs and we present sharp bounds for d _kR (G). In addition, we determine the Roman k-domatic number of some graphs. Some of our results extend those given by Sheikholeslami and Volkmann in 2010 for the Roman domatic number.