The Lovasz theta function provides a lower bound for the chromatic number of finite graphs based on the solution of a semidefinite program. In this paper we generalize it so that it gives a lower bound for the measurable chromatic number of distance graphs on compact metric spaces.
In particular we consider distance graphs on the unit sphere. There we transform the original infinite semidefinite program into an infinite linear program which then turns out to be an extremal question about Jacobi polynomials which we solve explicitly in the limit. As an application we derive new lower bounds for the measurable chromatic number of the Euclidean space in dimensions 10,..., 24, and we give a new proof that it grows exponentially with the dimension.
We examine the measurable chromatic number of distance colorings on the surface of 2-dimensional spheres of varying radii, showing in particular that similar arguments to those used to raise lower bounds in the plane work for all but a countable set of radii. Furthermore, we show that measurable chromatic number as a function of the radius, or more generally the curvature, is not monotonic.
Consider the graph $\mathbb{H}(d)$ whose vertex set is the hyperbolic plane, where two points are connected with an edge when their distance is equal to some $d>0$. Asking for the chromatic number of this graph is the hyperbolic analogue to the famous Hadwiger-Nelson problem about colouring the points of the Euclidean plane so that points at distance $1$ receive different colours. As in the Euclidean case, one can lower bound the chromatic number of $\mathbb{H}(d)$ by $4$ for all $d$. Using spectral methods, we prove that if the colour classes are measurable, then at least $6$ colours are are …
Let $X$ be a Polish space with Borel probability measure $μ,$ and let $G$ be a Borel graph on $X$ with no odd cycles and maximum degree $Δ(G).$ We show that the Baire measurable edge chromatic number of $G$ is at most $Δ(G)+1$, and if $G$ is $μ$-hyperfinite then the $μ$-measurable edge chromatic number obeys the same bound. More generally, we show that $G$ has Borel edge chromatic number at most $Δ(G)$ plus its asymptotic separation index.
In this paper we derive new upper bounds for the densities of measurable sets in R^n which avoid a finite set of prescribed distances. The new bounds come from the solution of a linear programming problem. We apply this method to obtain new upper bounds for measurable sets which avoid the unit distance in dimensions 2,..., 24. This gives new lower bounds for the measurable chromatic number in dimensions 3,..., 24. We apply it to get a new, short proof of a variant of a recent result of Bukh which in turn generalizes theorems of Furstenberg, Katznelson, Weiss and Bourgain and Falconer about set…
Let $χ(G$) and $χ_f(G)$ denote the chromatic and fractional chromatic numbers of a graph $G$, and let $(n^+ , n^0 , n^-)$ denote the inertia of $G$. We prove that: \[ 1 + \max\left(\frac{n^+}{n^-} , \frac{n^-}{n^+}\right) \le χ(G) \mbox{ and conjecture that } 1 + \max\left(\frac{n^+}{n^-} , \frac{n^-}{n^+}\right) \le χ_f(G) \] We investigate extremal graphs for these bounds and demonstrate that this inertial bound is not a lower bound for the vector chromatic number. We conclude with a discussion of asymmetry between $n^+$ and $n^-$, including some Nordhaus-Gaddum bounds for inertia.
Chromatic thresholds for linear equations and recurrence
Institute for Basic Science (IBS)（基础科学研究院）；Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)（加泰罗尼亚理工大学）；School of Mathematical Sciences, Fudan University（复旦大学数学科学学院）；Department of Mathematics, Stanford University（斯坦福大学数学系）
The quantum chromatic number, $χ_q(G)$, of a graph $G$ was originally defined as the minimal number of colors necessary in a quantum protocol in which two provers that cannot communicate with each other but share an entangled state can convince an interrogator with certainty that they have a coloring of the graph. We use an equivalent purely combinatorial definition of $χ_q(G)$ to prove that many spectral lower bounds for the chromatic number, $χ(G)$, are also lower bounds for $χ_q(G)$. This is achieved using techniques from linear algebra called pinching and twirling. We illustrate our result…
We prove that a formula predicted on the basis of non-rigorous physics arguments [Zdeborova and Krzakala: Phys. Rev. E (2007)] provides a lower bound on the chromatic number of sparse random graphs. The proof is based on the interpolation method from mathematical physics. In the case of random regular graphs the lower bound can be expressed algebraically, while in the case of the binomial random we obtain a variational formula. As an application we calculate improved explicit lower bounds on the chromatic number of random graphs for small (average) degrees. Additionally, show how asymptotic fo…
Let $f$ be a non-negative square-integrable function on a finite volume hyperbolic surface $Γ\backslash\mathbb{H}$, and assume that $f$ is non-autocorrelated, that is, perpendicular to its image under the operator of averaging over the circle of a fixed radius $r$. We show that in this case the support of $f$ is small, namely, it satisfies $μ(supp{f}) \leq (r+1)e^{-\frac{r}{2}} μ(Γ\backslash\mathbb{H})$. As a corollary, we prove a lower bound for the measurable chromatic number of the graph, whose vertices are the points of $Γ\backslash\mathbb{H}$, and two points are connected by an edge if th…
Let $χ(G)$ denote the chromatic number of a graph and $χ_v(G)$ denote the vector chromatic number. For all graphs $χ_v(G) \le χ(G)$ and for some graphs $χ_v(G) \ll χ(G)$. Galtman proved that Hoffman's well-known lower bound for $χ(G)$ is in fact a lower bound for $χ_v(G)$. We prove that two more spectral lower bounds for $χ(G)$ are also lower bounds for $χ_v(G)$. We then use one of these bounds to derive a new characterization of $χ_v(G)$.
Inspired by Bondarenko's counter-example to Borsuk's conjecture, we notice some strongly regular graphs that provide examples of ball packings whose chromatic numbers are significantly higher than the dimensions. In particular, from generalized quadrangles we obtain unit ball packings in dimension $q^3-q^2+q$ with chromatic number $q^3+1$, where $q$ is a prime power. This improves the previous lower bound for the chromatic number of ball packings.
Hadwiger's conjecture asserts that every graph without a $K_t$-minor is $(t-1)$-colorable. It is known that the exact version of Hadwiger's conjecture does not extend to list coloring, but it has been conjectured by Kawarabayashi and Mohar (2007) that there exists a constant $c$ such that every graph with no $K_t$-minor has list chromatic number at most $ct$. More specifically, they also conjectured that this holds for $c=\frac{3}{2}$. Refuting the latter conjecture, we show that the maximum list chromatic number of graphs with no $K_t$-minor is at least $(2-o(1))t$, and hence $c \ge 2$ in the…
In [Ho] A.J. Hoffman proved a lower bound on the chromatic number of a graph in the terms of the largest and the smallest eigenvalues of its adjacency matrix. In this paper, we prove a higher dimensional version of this result and give a lower bound on the chromatic number of a pure $d$-dimensional simplicial complex in the terms of the spectra of the higher Laplacian operators.
Hoffman proved that a graph $G$ with eigenvalues $μ_1 \ge \ldots \ge μ_n$ and chromatic number $χ(G)$ satisfies: \[ χ\ge 1 + κ\] where $κ$ is the smallest integer such that \[ μ_1 + \sum_{i=1}^κ μ_{n+1-i} \le 0. \] We strengthen this well known result by proving that $χ(G)$ can be replaced by the quantum chromatic number, $χ_q(G)$, where for all graphs $χ_q(G) \le χ(G)$ and for some graphs $χ_q(G)$ is significantly smaller than $χ(G)$. We also prove a similar result, and investigate implications of these inequalities for the quantum chromatic number of various classes of graphs, which improves…
In many practical applications the underlying graph must be as equitable colored as possible. A coloring is called equitable if the number of vertices colored with each color differs by at most one, and the least number of colors for which a graph has such a coloring is called its equitable chromatic number. We introduce a new integer linear programming approach for studying the equitable coloring number of a graph and show how to use it for improving lower bounds for this number. The two stage method is based on finding or upper bounding the maximum cardinality of an equitable color class in …
Let $Γ$ be a countable group and let $G$ be the Schreier graph of the free part of the Bernoulli shift of $Γ$ (with respect to some finite subset $F \subseteq Γ$). We show that the Borel fractional chromatic number of $G$ is equal to $1$ over the measurable independence number of $G$. As a consequence, we asymptotically determine the Borel fractional chromatic number of $G$ when $Γ$ is the free group, answering a question of Meehan.
In this paper, we provide a correct proof for the lower bounds of the local antimagic chromatic number of the corona product of friendship and fan graphs with null graph respectively as in [On local antimagic vertex coloring of corona products related to friendship and fan graph, {\it Indon. J. Combin.}, 5(2) (2021) 110--121]. Consequently, we obtained a sharp lower bound that gives the exact local antimagic chromatic number of the corona product of friendship and null graph.
A general Kneser hypergraph ${\rm KG}^r(\mathcal{H})$ is an $r$-uniform hypergraph that somehow encodes the edge intersections of a ground hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$. The colorability defect of $\mathcal{H}$ is a combinatorial parameter providing a lower bound for the chromatic number of ${\rm KG}^r(\mathcal{H})$ which is addressed in a series of works by Dol'nikov [Sibirskii Matematicheskii Zhurnal, 1988}], Kř\'ıž [Transaction of the American Mathematical Society, 1992], and Ziegler~[Inventiones Mathematicae, 2002]. In this paper, we define a new combinatorial parameter, the equitable colorabil…
For studying topological obstructions to graph colorings, Hom-complexes were introduced by Lovász. A graph $T$ is called a test graph if for every graph $H$, the $k$-connectedness of $|Hom(T, H)|$ implies $χ(H)\geq k + 1 + χ(T)$. The proof of the famous Kneser conjecture is based on the fact that $\mathcal{K}_2$, the complete graph on $2$ vertices, is a test graph. This result was extended to all complete graphs by Babson and Kozlov. Their proof is based on generalized nerve lemma and discrete Morse theory. In this paper, we propose a new topological lower bound for the chromatic number of a s…
We give a new, simple proof for the lower bound of the chromatic number of the Euclidean plane with two forbidden distances, based on a graph with only 16 vertices.
In this paper, we will study the chromatic number of Cayley graphs of algebraic groups that arise from algebraic constructions. Using Lang-Weil bound and representation theory of finite simple groups of Lie type, we will establish lower bounds on the chromatic number of these graphs. This provides a lower bound for the chromatic number of Cayley graphs of the regular graphs associated to the ring of $n\times n$ matrices over finite fields. Using Weil's bound for Kloosterman sums we will also prove an analogous result for $\mathrm{SL}_2$ over finite rings.
In the paper we give a lower bound for the number of vertices of a given graph using its chromatic number. We find the graphs for which this bound is exact. The results are applied in the theory of Foklman numbers.
A $K_3$-WORM coloring of a graph $G$ is an assignment of colors to the vertices in such a way that the vertices of each $K_3$-subgraph of $G$ get precisely two colors. We study graphs $G$ which admit at least one such coloring. We disprove a conjecture of Goddard et al. [Congr. Numer., 219 (2014) 161--173] who asked whether every such graph has a $K_3$-WORM coloring with two colors. In fact for every integer $k\ge 3$ there exists a $K_3$-WORM colorable graph in which the minimum number of colors is exactly $k$. There also exist $K_3$-WORM colorable graphs which have a $K_3$-WORM coloring with …
This paper is a study of ``topological'' lower bounds for the chromatic number of a graph. Such a lower bound was first introduced by Lovász in 1978, in his famous proof of the \emph{Kneser conjecture} via Algebraic Topology. This conjecture stated that the \emph{Kneser graph} $\KG_{m,n}$, the graph with all $k$-element subsets of $\{1,2,...,n\}$ as vertices and all pairs of disjoint sets as edges, has chromatic number $n-2k+2$. Several other proofs have since been published (by Bárány, Schrijver, Dolnikov, Sarkaria, Kriz, Greene, and others), all of them based on some version of the Borsuk--U…
This paper is devoted to the development of algorithms for finding unit distance graphs with chromatic number greater than 4, embedded in a two-dimensional sphere or plane. Such graphs provide a lower bound for the Nelson-Hadwiger problem on the chromatic number of the plane and its generalizations to the case of the sphere. A series of 5-chromatic unit distance graphs on 64513 vertices embedded into the plane is constructed. Unlike previously known examples, these graphs do not contain the Moser spindle as a subgraph. The construction of 5-chromatic graphs embedded in a sphere at two values o…
The paper is devoted to the study of graph sequence G_n = (V_n, E_n) where V_n is the set of all vectors v in R^n with coordinates from {-1, 0, 1} such that |v| = sqrt(3), and E_n consists of all pairs of vertices with the scalar product 1. We find exactly the independence number of G_n. As a corollary we get some new lower bounds of chi(\R^n) and chi(\Q^n) for small values of n.
The star chromatic index $χ_s'(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the minimum number of colors needed to properly color the edges of the graph so that no path or cycle of length four is bi-colored. We obtain a near-linear upper bound in terms of the maximum degree $Δ=Δ(G)$. Our best lower bound on $χ_s'$ in terms of $Δ$ is $2Δ(1+o(1))$ valid for complete graphs. We also consider the special case of cubic graphs, for which we show that the star chromatic index lies between 4 and 7 and characterize the graphs attaining the lower bound. The proofs involve a variety of notions from other branches of mathematic…
The local chromatic number of a graph G is the number of colors appearing in the most colorful closed neighborhood of a vertex minimized over all proper colorings of G. We show that two specific topological obstructions that have the same implications for the chromatic number have different implications for the local chromatic number. These two obstructions can be formulated in terms of the homomorphism complex Hom(K_2,G) and its suspension, respectively. These investigations follow the line of research initiated by Matousek and Ziegler who recognized a hierarchy of the different topological e…
We present a family of finite unit-distance graphs in the plane that are not 4-colourable, thereby improving the lower bound of the Hadwiger-Nelson problem. The smallest such graph that we have so far discovered has 1581 vertices.
Recently, Kupavskii~[{\it On random subgraphs of {K}neser and {S}chrijver graphs. J. Combin. Theory Ser. A, {\rm 2016}.}] investigated the chromatic number of random Kneser graphs $\KG_{n,k}(ρ)$ and proved that, in many cases, the chromatic numbers of the random Kneser graph $\KG_{n,k}(ρ)$ and the Kneser graph $\KG_{n,k}$ are almost surely closed. He also marked the studying of the chromatic number of random Kneser hypergraphs $\KG^r_{n,k}(ρ)$ as a very interesting problem. With the help of $\Z_p$-Tucker lemma, a combinatorial generalization of the Borsuk-Ulam theorem, we generalize Kupavskii'…
More than 50 years ago Hedetniemi conjectured that the chromatic number of categorical product of two graphs is equal to the minimum of their chromatic numbers. This conjecture has received a considerable attention in recent years. Hedetniemi's conjecture were generalized to hypergraphs by Zhu in 1992. Hajiabolhassan and Meunier (2016) introduced the first nontrivial lower bound for the chromatic number of categorical product of general Kneser hypergraphs and using this lower bound, they verified Zhu's conjecture for some families of hypergraphs. In this paper, we shall present some colorful t…
Let $G$ be a graph with $n$ vertices, $m$ edges, average degree $δ$, and maximum degree $Δ$. The "oriented chromatic number" of $G$ is the maximum, taken over all orientations of $G$, of the minimum number of colours in a proper vertex colouring such that between every pair of colour classes all edges have the same orientation. We investigate the oriented chromatic number of graphs, such as the hypercube, for which $δ\geq\log n$. We prove that every such graph has oriented chromatic number at least $Ω(\sqrt{n})$. In the case that $δ\geq(2+ε)\log n$, this lower bound is improved to $Ω(\sqrt{m})…
We improve the best lower bounds on the chromatic number of Euclidean space in small dimensions. The new results depend on extensive computations in Sage.
We give an upper bound on the list chromatic number of a 2-colorable hypergraph which generalizes the bound of Schauz on $k$-partite $k$-uniform hypergraphs. It makes sense for sparse hypergraphs: in particular we show that a $k$-uniform $k$-regular hypergraph has the list chromatic number 2 for $k \geq 4$. Also we obtain both lower and upper bound on the list chromatic number of a complete $s$-uniform 2-colorable hypergraph in the vein of Erd{\H o}s--Rubin--Taylor theorem.
For a multigraph G, the integer round-up phi(G) of the fractional chromatic index yields a good general lower bound for the chromatic index . For an upper bound, Kahn showed that for any real c > 0 there exists a positive integer N so that the chromatic index is less than (1+c)*phi(G) whenever the fractional index > N. We show the amount by which the chromatic index can surpass phi(G) is in fact logarithmic, by showing that for any multigraph G with order n > 3 and at least one edge, the chromatic index is less than phi(G) + log (min {(n+1)/3, phi(G)}) .
An edge labeling of a connected graph $G = (V, E)$ is said to be local antimagic if it is a bijection $f:E \to\{1,\ldots ,|E|\}$ such that for any pair of adjacent vertices $x$ and $y$, $f^+(x)\not= f^+(y)$, where the induced vertex label $f^+(x)= \sum f(e)$, with $e$ ranging over all the edges incident to $x$. The local antimagic chromatic number of $G$, denoted by $χ_{la}(G)$, is the minimum number of distinct induced vertex labels over all local antimagic labelings of $G$. In this paper, we give counterexamples to the lower bound of $χ_{la}(G \vee O_2)$ that was obtained in [Local antimagic…
Several games that arise from graph coloring have been introduced and studied. Let $φ$ denote a graph invariant that arises from such a game. If $G$ is a graph and $φ(G-x)\neq φ(G)=k$, $k \geq 1$, holds true for every vertex $x \in V(G)$, then $G$ is called a $k$-$φ$-game-vertex-critical graph. We study the concept of $φ$-game-vertex-criticality for $φ\in \{χ_g, χ_i, χ_{ig}^{A}, χ_{ig}^{AB}\}$, where $χ_g$ denotes the standard game chromatic number, $χ_i$ denotes the indicated game chromatic number and $χ_{ig}^{A}$, $χ_{ig}^{AB}$ denote two versions of the independence game chromatic number. S…
Lovasz's striking proof of Kneser's conjecture from 1978 using the Borsuk--Ulam theorem provides a lower bound on the chromatic number of a graph. We introduce the shore subdivision of simplicial complexes and use it to show an upper bound to this topological lower bound and to construct a strong Z_2-deformation retraction from the box complex (in the version introduced by Matousek and Ziegler) to the Lovasz complex. In the process, we analyze and clarify the combinatorics of the complexes involved and link their structure via several ``intermediate'' complexes.
The chromatic number $χ\left(\mathcal{E^2}\right)$ of the plane is known to be some integer between 4 and 7, inclusive. We prove a limiting result that says, roughly, that one cannot increase the lower bound on $χ\left(\mathcal{E^2}\right)$ by pasting Moser Spindles together, even countably many.
Let $P$ be a set of $n$ points in general and convex position in the plane. Let $D_n$ be the graph whose vertex set is the set of all line segments with endpoints in $P$, where disjoint segments are adjacent. The chromatic number of this graph was first studied by Araujo et al. [\emph{CGTA}, 2005]. The previous best bounds are $\frac{3n}{4}\leqχ(D_n) <n-\sqrt{\frac{n}{2}}$ (ignoring lower order terms). In this paper we improve the lower bound to $χ(D_n)\geq n-\sqrt{2n}$, to conclude a near-tight bound on $χ(D_n)$.
A Nordhaus-Gaddum-type result is a (tight) lower or upper bound on the sum or product of a parameter of a graph and its complement. In this paper some variations are considered. First, recall their theorem, which gives bounds on the sum and the product of the chromatic number of a graph with that of its complement. In this paper, we provide a new characterization of the other class of graphs.
A b-coloring of a graph is a proper coloring of its vertices such that each color class contains a vertex adjacent to at least one vertex of every other color class. The b-chromatic number of a graph is the largest integer k such that the graph has a b-coloring with k colors. In this work we present lower bounds for the b-chromatic number of a vertex-deleted subgraph of a graph, particularly regarding two important classes, quasi-line and chordal graphs. We also get bounds for the b-chromatic number of G -{x}, when G is a graph with large girth.
DP-coloring is a generalization of list coloring introduced recently by Dvořák and Postle. We prove that for every $n$-vertex graph $G$ whose chromatic number $χ(G)$ is "close" to $n$, the DP-chromatic number of $G$ equals $χ(G)$. "Close" here means $χ(G)\geq n-O(\sqrt{n})$, and we also show that this lower bound is best possible (up to the constant factor in front of $\sqrt{n}$), in contrast to the case of list coloring.
