An $acyclic$ edge coloring of a graph is a proper edge coloring such that there are no bichromatic cycle s. The \emph{acyclic chromatic index} of a graph is the minimum number k such that there is an acyclic e dge coloring using k colors and is denoted by $a'(G)$. It was conjectured by Alon, Sudakov and Zaks that for any simple and finite graph $G$, $a'(G)\le Δ+2$, where $Δ=Δ(G)$ denotes the maximum degree of $G$. We prove the conjecture for connected graphs with $Δ(G) \le 4$, with the additional restriction that $m \le 2n-1$, where $n$ is the number of vertices and $m$ is the number of edges in $G $. Note that for any graph $G$, $m \le 2n$, when $Δ(G) \le 4$. It follows that for any graph $G$ if $Δ(G) \le 4$, then $a'(G) \le 7$.
An \emph{acyclic edge-coloring} of a graph $G$ is a proper edge-coloring of $G$ such that the subgraph induced by any two color classes is acyclic. The \emph{acyclic chromatic index}, $χ'_a(G)$, is the smallest number of colors allowing an acyclic edge-coloring of $G$. Clearly $χ'_a(G)\ge Δ(G)$ for every graph $G$. Cohen, Havet, and Müller conjectured that there exists a constant $M$ such that every planar graph with $Δ(G)\ge M$ has $χ'_a(G)=Δ(G)$. We prove this conjecture.
We prove that the acyclic chromatic number of a graph with maximum degree $Δ$ is less than $2.835Δ^{4/3}+Δ$. This improves the previous upper bound, which was $50Δ^{4/3}$. To do so, we draw inspiration from works by Alon, McDiarmid and Reed and by Esperet and Parreau.
We consider vertex coloring of an acyclic digraph $\Gdag$ in such a way that two vertices which have a common ancestor in $\Gdag$ receive distinct colors. Such colorings arise in a natural way when bounding space for various genetic data for efficient analysis. We discuss the corresponding {\em down-chromatic number} and derive an upper bound as a function of $D(\Gdag)$, the maximum number of descendants of a given vertex, and the degeneracy of the corresponding hypergraph. Finally we determine an asymptotically tight upper bound of the down-chromatic number in terms of the number of vertices …
We show that for any fixed integer $m \geq 1$, a graph of maximum degree $Δ$ has a coloring with $O(Δ^{(m+1)/m})$ colors in which every connected bicolored subgraph contains at most $m$ edges. This result unifies previously known upper bounds on the number of colors sufficient for certain types of graph colorings, including star colorings, for which $O(Δ^{3/2})$ colors suffice, and acyclic colorings, for which $O(Δ^{4/3})$ colors suffice. Our proof uses a probabilistic method of Alon, McDiarmid, and Reed. This result also gives previously unknown upper bounds, including the fact that a graph o…
An $acyclic$ edge coloring of a graph is a proper edge coloring such that there are no bichromatic cycle s. The \emph{acyclic chromatic index} of a graph is the minimum number k such that there is an acyclic e dge coloring using k colors and is denoted by $a'(G)$. A graph is called 2-$degenerate$ if any of its induced subgraph has a vertex of degree at most 2. The class of 2-$degenerate graphs$ properly conta in $series$-$parallel graphs$, $outerplanar graphs$, \emph{non-regular subcubic graphs}, \emph{planar graphs of girth at least 6} and \emph{circle graphs of girth at least 5} as subclasse…
An edge-coloring of a graph G is acyclic if it is a proper edge-coloring of G and every cycle contains at least three colors. We prove that every graph with maximum degree Delta has an acyclic edge-coloring with at most 4 Delta - 4 colors, improving the previous bound of 9.62 (Delta - 1). Our bound results from the analysis of a very simple randomised procedure using the so-called entropy compression method. We show that the expected running time of the procedure is O(mn Delta^2 log Delta), where n and m are the number of vertices and edges of G. Such a randomised procedure running in expected…
An acyclic edge coloring of a graph $G$ is a proper edge coloring such that no bichromatic cycles are produced. The acyclic chromatic index $a'(G)$ of $G$ is the smallest integer $k$ such that $G$ has an acyclic edge coloring using $k$ colors. It was conjectured that $a'(G)\le Δ+2$ for any simple graph $G$ with maximum degree $Δ$. In this paper, we prove that if $G$ is a planar graph, then $a'(G)\leqΔ+7$. This improves a result by Basavaraju et al. [{\em Acyclic edge-coloring of planar graphs}, SIAM J. Discrete Math., 25 (2011), pp. 463-478], which says that every planar graph $G$ satisfies $a…
This paper studies two variants of defective acyclic coloring of planar graphs. For a graph $G$ and a coloring $φ$ of $G$, a 2CC transversal is a subset $E'$ of $E(G)$ that intersects every 2-colored cycle. Let $k$ be a positive integer. We denote by $m_k(G)$ the minimum integer $m$ such that $G$ has a proper $k$-coloring which has a 2CC transerval of size $m$, and by $m'_k(G)$ the minimum size of a subset $E'$ of $E(G)$ such that $G-E'$ is acyclic $k$-colorable. We prove that for any $n$-vertex $3$-colorable planar graph $G$, $m_3(G) \le n - 3$ and for any planar graph $G$, $m_4(G) \le n - 5$…
Let $G$ be a graph. We introduce the acyclic b-chromatic number of $G$ as an analogue to the b-chromatic number of $G$. An acyclic coloring of a graph $G$ is a map $c:V(G)\rightarrow \{1,\dots,k\}$ such that $c(u)\neq c(v)$ for any $uv\in E(G)$ and the induced subgraph on vertices of any two colors $i,j\in \{1,\dots,k\}$ induces a forest. On the set of all acyclic colorings of $G$ we define a relation whose transitive closure is a strict partial order. The minimum cardinality of its minimal element is then the acyclic chromatic number $A(G)$ of $G$ and the maximum cardinality of its minimal el…
We consider the extension to directed graphs of the concept of achromatic number in terms of acyclic vertex colorings. The achromatic number have been intensely studied since it was introduced by Harary, Hedetniemi and Prins in 1967. The dichromatic number is a generalization of the chromatic number for digraphs defined by Neumann-Lara in 1982. A coloring of a digraph is an acyclic coloring if each subdigraph induced by each chromatic class is acyclic, and a coloring is complete if for any pair of chromatic classes $x,y$, there is an arc from $x$ to $y$ and an arc from $y$ to $x$. The dichroma…
We study two parameters that arise from the dichromatic number and the vertex-arboricity in the same way that the achromatic number comes from the chromatic number. The adichromatic number of a digraph is the largest number of colors its vertices can be colored with such that every color induces an acyclic subdigraph but merging any two colors yields a monochromatic directed cycle. Similarly, the a-vertex arboricity of an undirected graph is the largest number of colors that can be used such that every color induces a forest but merging any two yields a monochromatic cycle. We study the relati…
We consider acyclic r-colorings in graphs and digraphs: they color the vertices in r colors, each of which induces an acyclic graph or digraph. (This includes the dichromatic number of a digraph, and the arboricity of a graph.) For any girth and sufficiently high degree, we prove the NP-completeness of acyclic r-colorings; our method also implies the known analogue for classical colorings. The proofs use high girth graphs with high arboricity and dichromatic numbers. High girth graphs and digraphs with high chromatic and dichromatic numbers have been well studied; we re-derive the results from…
A proper edge coloring of a graph $G$ is called acyclic if there is no bichromatic cycle in $G$. The acyclic chromatic index of $G$, denoted by $χ'_a(G)$, is the least number of colors $k$ such that $G$ has an acyclic edge $k$-coloring. The maximum average degree of a graph $G$, denoted by $\mad(G)$, is the maximum of the average degree of all subgraphs of $G$. In this paper, it is proved that if $\mad(G)<4$, then $χ'_a(G)\leq{Δ(G)+2}$; if $\mad(G)<3$, then $χ'_a(G)\leq{Δ(G)+1}$. This implies that every triangle-free planar graph $G$ is acyclically edge $(Δ(G)+2)$-colorable.
An \emph{acyclic coloring} of a graph is a proper vertex coloring such that the union of any two color classes induces a disjoint collection of trees. The more restricted notion of \emph{star coloring} requires that the union of any two color classes induces a disjoint collection of stars. We prove that every acyclic coloring of a cograph is also a star coloring and give a linear-time algorithm for finding an optimal acyclic and star coloring of a cograph. If the graph is given in the form of a cotree, the algorithm runs in O(n) time. We also show that the acyclic chromatic number, the star ch…
An acyclic edge-coloring of a graph is a proper edge-coloring without bichromatic ($2$-colored) cycles. The acyclic chromatic index of a graph $G$, denoted by $a'(G)$, is the least integer $k$ such that $G$ admits an acyclic edge-coloring using $k$ colors. Let $Δ= Δ(G)$ denote the maximum degree of a vertex in a graph $G$. A complete bipartite graph with $n$ vertices on each side is denoted by $K_{n,n}$. Basavaraju, Chandran and Kummini proved that $a'(K_{n,n}) \ge n+2 = Δ+ 2$ when $n$ is odd. Basavaraju and Chandran provided an acyclic edge-coloring of $K_{p,p}$ using $p+2$ colors and thus es…
We provide a detailed study of topological and combinatorial properties of sectionable tournaments. This class forms an inductively constructed family of tournaments grounded over simply disconnected tournaments, those tournaments whose fundamental groups of acyclic complexes are non-trivial. When $T$ is a sectionable tournament, we fully describe the cell-structure of its acyclic complex $Acy(T)$ by using the adapted machinery of discrete Morse theory for acyclic complexes of tournaments. In the combinatorial side, we demonstrate that the dimension of the complex $Acy(T)$ has a role to play. …
An acyclic edge coloring of a graph $G$ is a proper edge coloring such that no bichromatic cycles are produced. The acyclic edge coloring conjecture by Fiam{č}ik (1978) and Alon, Sudakov and Zaks (2001) states that every simple graph with maximum degree $Δ$ is acyclically edge $(Δ+ 2)$-colorable. Despite many milestones, the conjecture remains open even for planar graphs. In this paper, we confirm affirmatively the conjecture on planar graphs without intersecting triangles. We do so by first showing, by discharging methods, that every planar graph without intersecting triangles must have at le…
\qquad A \emph{coloring} of a digraph $D=(V,E)$ is a coloring of its vertices following the rule: Let $uv$ be an arc in $D$. If the tail $u$ is colored first, then the head $v$ should receive a color different from that of $u$. The \emph{dichromatic number} $χ_d(D)$ of $D$ is the minimum number of colors needed in a coloring of $D$. Besides obtaining many results and bounds for $χ_d(D)$ analogous to that of chromatic number of a graph, we prove $χ_d(D)=1$ if $D$ is acyclic. New notions of sequential colorings of graphs/digraphs are introduced. A characterization of acyclic digraph is obtained …
An acyclic edge coloring of a graph $G$ is a proper edge coloring such that every cycle is colored with at least three colors. The acyclic chromatic index $\chiup_{a}'(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the least number of colors in an acyclic edge coloring of $G$. It was conjectured that $\chiup'_{a}(G)\leq Δ(G) + 2$ for any simple graph $G$ with maximum degree $Δ(G)$. In this paper, we prove that every planar graph $G$ admits an acyclic edge coloring with $Δ(G) + 6$ colors.
The acyclic chromatic number of a graph is the least number of colors needed to properly color its vertices so that none of its cycles has only two colors. We show that for all $α>2^{-1/3}$ there exists an integer $Δ_α$ such that if the maximum degree $Δ$ of a graph is at least $Δ_α$, then the acyclic chromatic number of the graph is at most $\lceilαΔ^{4/3} \rceil +Δ+ 1$. The previous best bound, due to Gonçalves et al (2020), was $(3/2) Δ^{4/3} + O(Δ)$.
Proper edge coloring of a graph $G$ is called acyclic if there is no bichromatic cycle in $G$. The acyclic chromatic index of $G$, denoted by $χ'_a(G)$, is the least number of colors $k$ such that $G$ has an acyclic edge $k$-coloring. Basavaraju et al. [Acyclic edge-coloring of planar graphs, SIAM J. Discrete Math. 25 (2) (2011), 463--478] showed that $χ'_a(G)\le Δ(G)+12$ for planar graphs $G$ with maximum degree $Δ(G)$. In this paper, the bound is improved to $Δ(G)+10$.
An {\em acyclic edge coloring} of a graph $G$ is a proper edge coloring such that the subgraph induced by any two color classes is a linear forest (an acyclic graph with maximum degree at most two). The {\em acyclic chromatic index} $\chiup_{a}'(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the least number of colors needed in an acyclic edge coloring of $G$. Fiamčík (1978) conjectured that $\chiup_{a}'(G) \leq Δ(G) + 2$, where $Δ(G)$ is the maximum degree of $G$. This conjecture is well known as Acyclic Edge Coloring Conjecture (AECC). A graph $G$ with maximum degree at most $κ$ is {\em $κ$-deletion-minimal} if $\ch…
We present a new correspondence between acyclic orientations and coloring of a signed graph (symmetric graph). Goodall et al. introduced a bivariate chromatic polynomial $χ_G(k,l)$ that counts the number of signed colorings using colors $0,\pm1,\dots,\pm k$ along with $l-1$ symmetric colors $0_1,\dots,0_{l-1}$. We show that the evaluation of the bivariate chromatic polynomial $|χ_G(-1,2)|$ is equal to the number of acyclic orientations of the signed graph modulo the equivalence relation generated by swapping sources and sinks. We present three proofs of this fact, a proof using toric hyperplan…
An edge coloring of a graph $G$ is called an acyclic edge coloring if it is proper and every cycle in $G$ contains edges of at least three different colors. The least number of colors needed for an acyclic edge coloring of $G$ is called the acyclic chromatic index of $G$ and is denoted by $a'(G)$. Fiamčik and independently Alon, Sudakov, and Zaks conjectured that $a'(G) \leq Δ(G)+2$, where $Δ(G)$ denotes the maximum degree of $G$. The best known general bound is $a'(G)\leq 4(Δ(G)-1)$ due to Esperet and Parreau. We apply a generalization of the Lovász Local Lemma to show that if $G$ contains no…
An acyclic edge coloring of a graph $G$ is a proper edge coloring such that every cycle is colored with at least three colors. The acyclic chromatic index $\chiup_{a}'(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the least number of colors in an acyclic edge coloring of $G$. It was conjectured that $\chiup'_{a}(G)\leq Δ(G) + 2$ for any simple graph $G$ with maximum degree $Δ(G)$. A graph is {\em $1$-planar} if it can be drawn on the plane such that every edge is crossed by at most one other edge. In this paper, we prove that every triangle-free $1$-planar graph $G$ has an acyclic edge coloring with $Δ(G) + 16$ color…
We give a probabilistic analysis of a Moser-type algorithm for the Lovász Local Lemma (LLL), adjusted to search for acyclic edge colorings of a graph. We thus improve the best known upper bound to acyclic chromatic index, also obtained by analyzing a similar algorithm, but through the entropic method (basically counting argument). Specifically we show that a graph with maximum degree $Δ$ has an acyclic proper edge coloring with at most $\lceil 3.74(Δ-1)\rceil+1 $ colors, whereas, previously, the best bound was $4(Δ-1)$. The main contribution of this work is that it comprises a probabilistic an…
An $acyclic$ edge coloring of a graph is a proper edge coloring such that there are no bichromatic cycles. The \emph{acyclic chromatic index} of a graph is the minimum number k such that there is an acyclic edge coloring using k colors and is denoted by $a'(G)$. It was conjectured by Alon, Sudakov and Zaks (and earlier by Fiamcik) that $a'(G)\le Δ+2$, where $Δ=Δ(G)$ denotes the maximum degree of the graph. Alon et.al also raised the question whether the complete graphs of even order are the only regular graphs which require $Δ+2$ colors to be acyclically edge colored. In this paper, using a si…
An acyclic edge coloring of a graph $G$ is a proper edge coloring such that no bichromatic cycles are produced. The acyclic chromatic index $a'(G)$ of $G$ is the smallest integer $k$ such that $G$ has an acyclic edge coloring using $k$ colors. Fiam${\rm \check{c}}$ik (1978) and later Alon, Sudakov and Zaks (2001) conjectured that $a'(G)\le Δ+ 2$ for any simple graph $G$ with maximum degree $Δ$. Basavaraju and Chandran (2009) showed that every graph $G$ with $Δ=4$, which is not 4-regular, satisfies the conjecture. In this paper, we settle the 4-regular case, i.e., we show that every 4-regular g…
For a fixed simple digraph $F$ and a given simple digraph $D$, an $F$-free $k$-coloring of $D$ is a vertex-coloring in which no induced copy of $F$ in $D$ is monochromatic. We study the complexity of deciding for fixed $F$ and $k$ whether a given simple digraph admits an $F$-free $k$-coloring. Our main focus is on the restriction of the problem to planar input digraphs, where it is only interesting to study the cases $k \in \{2,3\}$. From known results it follows that for every fixed digraph $F$ whose underlying graph is not a forest, every planar digraph $D$ admits an $F$-free $2$-coloring, a…
The acyclic chromatic index of a graph $G$ is the least number of colors needed to properly color its edges so that none of its cycles is bichromatic. In this work, we show that $2Δ-1$ colors are sufficient to produce such a coloring, where $Δ$ is the maximum degree of the graph. In contrast with most extant randomized algorithmic approaches to the chromatic index, where the algorithms presuppose enough colors to guarantee properness deterministically and use randomness only to deal with the bichromatic cycles, our randomized, Moser-type algorithm produces a not necessarily proper random color…
Proper vertex colorings of a graph are related to its boundary map, also called its signed vertex-edge incidence matrix. The vertex Laplacian of a graph, a natural extension of the boundary map, leads us to introduce nowhere-harmonic colorings and analogues of the chromatic polynomial and Stanley's theorem relating negative evaluations of the chromatic polynomial to acyclic orientations. Further, we discuss some examples demonstrating that nowhere-harmonic colorings are more complicated from an enumerative perspective than proper colorings.
A graph is called 1-planar if it can be drawn on the plane so that each edge is crossed by at most one other edge. In this paper, we establish a local property of 1-planar graphs which describes the structure in the neighborhood of small vertices (i.e. vertices of degree no more than seven). Meanwhile, some new classes of light graphs in 1-planar graphs with the bounded degree are found. Therefore, two open problems presented by Fabrici and Madaras [The structure of 1-planar graphs, Discrete Mathematics, 307, (2007), 854-865] are solved. Furthermore, we prove that each 1-planar graph $G$ with …
The dichromatic number of a digraph $G$ is the smallest integer $χ_a(G)$ such that the vertex set of $G$ can be partitioned into $χ_a(G)$ sets, each of which induces an acyclic subdigraph. This is a generalization of the classic chromatic number of graphs. Here, we investigate the dichromatic number of the cartesian, direct, strong and lexicographic products, giving generalizations of some classic results on the chromatic number of products. More specifically, we prove that the following inequalities, known to hold for the chromatic number of graphs, still hold for the dichromatic number of di…
The chromatic number of a graph is the minimum $k$ such that the graph has a proper $k$-coloring. There are many coloring parameters in the literature that are proper colorings that also forbid bicolored subgraphs. Some examples are $2$-distance coloring, acyclic coloring, and star coloring, which forbid a bicolored path on three vertices, bicolored cycles, and a bicolored path on four vertices, respectively. This notion was first suggested by Grünbaum in 1973, but no specific name was given. We revive this notion by defining an $H$-avoiding $k$-coloring to be a proper $k$-coloring that forbid…
We prove a conjecture by Aboulker, Charbit and Naserasr by showing that every oriented graph in which the out-neighborhood of every vertex induces a transitive tournament can be partitioned into two acyclic induced subdigraphs. We prove multiple extensions of this result to larger classes of digraphs defined by a finite list of forbidden induced subdigraphs. We thereby resolve several special cases of an extension of the famous Gyárfás-Sumner conjecture to directed graphs by Aboulker et al.
A proper vertex coloring $φ$ of graph $G$ is said to be odd if for each non-isolated vertex $x\in V(G)$ there exists a color $c$ such that $φ^{-1}(c)\cap N(x)$ is odd-sized. The minimum number of colors in any odd coloring of $G$, denoted $χ_o(G)$, is the odd chromatic number. Odd colorings were recently introduced in [M.~Petruševski, R.~Škrekovski: \textit{Colorings with neighborhood parity condition}]. Here we discuss various basic properties of this new graph parameter, characterize acyclic graphs and hypercubes in terms of odd chromatic number, establish several upper bounds in regard to d…
Three well-studied types of subgraph-restricted matchings are induced matchings, uniquely restricted matchings, and acyclic matchings. While it is hard to determine the maximum size of a matching of each of these types, whether some given graph has a maximum matching that is induced or has a maximum matching that is uniquely restricted, can both be decided efficiently. In contrast to that we show that deciding whether a given bipartite graph of maximum degree at most four has a maximum matching that is acyclic is NP-complete. Furthermore, we show that maximum weight acyclic matchings can be de…
Defective coloring is a variant of traditional vertex-coloring, according to which adjacent vertices are allowed to have the same color, as long as the monochromatic components induced by the corresponding edges have a certain structure. Due to its important applications, as for example in the bipartisation of graphs, this type of coloring has been extensively studied, mainly with respect to the size, degree, and acyclicity of the monochromatic components. In this paper we focus on defective colorings in which the monochromatic components are acyclic and have small diameter, namely, they form …
We investigate the relationship between two kinds of vertex colorings of hypergraphs: unique-maximum colorings and conflict-free colorings. In a unique-maximum coloring, the colors are ordered, and in every hyperedge of the hypergraph the maximum color appears only once. In a conflict-free coloring, in every hyperedge of the hypergraph there is a color that appears only once. We define corresponding unique-maximum and conflict-free chromatic numbers and investigate their relationship in arbitrary hypergraphs. Then, we concentrate on hypergraphs that are induced by simple paths in tree graphs.
A matching $M$ in a graph $G$ is acyclic if the subgraph of $G$ induced by the set of vertices that are incident to an edge in $M$ is a forest. We prove that every graph with $n$ vertices, maximum degree at most $Δ$, and no isolated vertex, has an acyclic matching of size at least $(1-o(1))\frac{6n}{Δ^2},$ and we explain how to find such an acyclic matching in polynomial time.
The \emph{slow-coloring game} is played by Lister and Painter on a graph $G$. Initially, all vertices of $G$ are uncolored. In each round, Lister marks a nonempty set $M$ of uncolored vertices, and Painter colors a subset of $M$ that is independent in $G$. The game ends when all vertices are colored. The score of the game is the sum of the sizes of all sets marked by Lister. The goal of Painter is to minimize the score, while Lister tries to maximize it. We provide strategies for Painter on various classes of graphs whose vertices can be partitioned into a bounded number of sets inducing fores…
In 1995, Richard Stanley introduced the chromatic symmetric function $X_G$ of a graph $G$ and proved that, when written in terms of the elementary symmetric functions, it reveals the number of acyclic orientations of $G$ with a given number of sinks. In this paper, we generalize this result to signed graphs, that is, to graphs whose edges are labeled with $+$ or $-$ and whose colorings and orientations can interact with their signs. Additionally, we introduce a non-homogeneous basis which detects the number of sinks and which not only gives a Stanley-type result for signed graphs but gives an …
We extend the work of Hanlon on the chromatic polynomial of an unlabeled graph to define the unlabeled chromatic polynomial of an unlabeled signed graph. Explicit formulas are presented for labeled and unlabeled signed chromatic polynomials as summations over distinguished order-ideals of the signed partition lattice. We also define the quotient of a signed graph by a signed permutation, and show that its signed graphic arrangement is closely related to an induced arrangement on a distinguished subspace. Lastly, a formula for the number of unlabeled acyclic orientations of a signed graph is pr…
In the past various distance based colorings on planar graphs were introduced. We turn our focus to three of them, namely $2$-distance coloring, injective coloring, and exact square coloring. A $2$-distance coloring is a proper coloring of the vertices in which no two vertices at distance $2$ receive the same color, an injective coloring is a coloring of the vertices in which no two vertices with a common neighbor receive the same color, and an exact square coloring is a coloring of the vertices in which no two vertices at distance exactly $2$ receive the same color. We prove that planar graph…
Based on the algorithmic proof of Lovász local lemma due to Moser and Tardos, the works of Grytczuk et al. on words, and Dujmović et al. on colorings, Esperet and Parreau developed a framework to prove upper bounds for several chromatic numbers (in particular acyclic chromatic index, star chromatic number and Thue chromatic number) using the so-called \emph{entropy compression method}. Inspired by this work, we propose a more general framework and a better analysis. This leads to improved upper bounds on chromatic numbers and indices. In particular, every graph with maximum degree $Δ$ has an a…
A facial unique-maximum coloring of a plane graph is a vertex coloring where on each face $α$ the maximal color appears exactly once on the vertices of $α$. If the coloring is required to be proper, then the upper bound for the minimal number of colors required for such a coloring is set to $5$. Fabrici and Göring [Fabrici and Goring 2016] even conjectured that $4$ colors always suffice. Confirming the conjecture would hence give a considerable strengthening of the Four Color Theorem. In this paper, we prove that the conjecture holds for subcubic plane graphs, outerplane graphs and plane quadr…
Frugal coloring in planar graphs with maximum degree 4 and 5
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor（马里博尔大学自然科学与数学学院）；Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics, Ljubljana（卢布尔雅那数学、物理与力学研究所）；University of West Bohemia（西波希米亚大学）
A facial unique-maximum coloring of a plane graph is a proper coloring of the vertices using positive integers such that each face has a unique vertex that receives the maximum color in that face. Fabrici and Göring (2016) proposed a strengthening of the Four Color Theorem conjecturing that all plane graphs have a facial unique-maximum coloring using four colors. This conjecture has been disproven for general plane graphs and it was shown that five colors suffice. In this paper we show that plane graphs, where vertices of degree at least four induce a star forest, are facially unique-maximum 4…
