A connected $k$-chromatic graph $G$ is said to be {\it double-critical} if for all edges $uv$ of $G$ the graph $G - u - v$ is $(k-2)$-colourable. A longstanding conjecture of Erdős and Lovász states that the complete graphs are the only double-critical graphs. Kawarabayashi, Pedersen and Toft [\it{Electron. J. Combin.}, 17(1): Research Paper 87, 2010] proved that every double-critical $k$-chromatic graph with $k \leq 7$ contains a $K_k$ minor. It remains unknown whether an arbitrary double-critical $8$-chromatic graph contains a $K_8$ minor, but in this paper we prove that any double-critical $8$-chromatic contains a $K_8^-$ minor; here $K_8^-$ denotes the complete $8$-graph with one edge missing. In addition, we observe that any double-critical $8$-chromatic graph with minimum degree different from $10$ and $11$ contains a $K_8$ minor.
Given a minor-closed class of graphs $\mathcal{G}$, what is the infimum of the non-trivial roots of the chromatic polynomial of $G \in \mathcal{G}$? When $\mathcal{G}$ is the class of all graphs, the answer is known to be $32/27$. We answer this question exactly for three minor-closed classes of graphs. Furthermore, we conjecture precisely when the value is larger than $32/27$.
Gerards and Seymour conjectured that every graph with no odd $K_t$ minor is $(t-1)$-colorable. This is a strengthening of the famous Hadwiger's Conjecture. Geelen et al. proved that every graph with no odd $K_t$ minor is $O(t\sqrt{\log t})$-colorable. Using the methods the present authors and Postle recently developed for coloring graphs with no $K_t$ minor, we make the first improvement on this bound by showing that every graph with no odd $K_t$ minor is $O(t(\log t)^β)$-colorable for every $β> 1/4$.
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 this short note, we extend the result of Galluccio, Goddyn, and Hell, which states that graphs of large girth excluding a minor are nearly bipartite. We also prove a similar result for the oriented chromatic number, from which follows in particular that graphs of large girth excluding a minor have oriented chromatic number at most $5$, and for the $p$th chromatic number $χ_p$, from which follows in particular that graphs $G$ of large girth excluding a minor have $χ_p(G)\leq p+2$.
A connected $t$-chromatic graph $G$ is \dfn{double-critical} if $G \backslash\{u, v\}$ is $(t-2)$-colorable for each edge $uv\in E(G)$. A long standing conjecture of Erdős and Lovász that the complete graphs are the only double-critical $t$-chromatic graphs remains open for all $t\ge6$. Given the difficulty in settling Erdős and Lovász's conjecture and motivated by the well-known Hadwiger's conjecture, Kawarabayashi, Pedersen and Toft proposed a weaker conjecture that every double-critical $t$-chromatic graph contains a $K_t$ minor and verified their conjecture for $t\le7$. Albar and Gonçalves…
We prove that graphs excluding a fixed immersion have bounded nonrepetitive chromatic number. More generally, we prove that if $H$ is a fixed planar graph that has a planar embedding with all the vertices with degree at least 4 on a single face, then graphs excluding $H$ as a topological minor have bounded nonrepetitive chromatic number. This is the largest class of graphs known to have bounded nonrepetitive chromatic number.
Hadwiger's famous coloring conjecture states that every $t$-chromatic graph contains a $K_t$-minor. Holroyd [Bull. London Math. Soc. 29, (1997), pp. 139--144] conjectured the following strengthening of Hadwiger's conjecture: If $G$ is a $t$-chromatic graph and $S \subseteq V(G)$ takes all colors in every $t$-coloring of $G$, then $G$ contains a $K_t$-minor rooted at $S$. We prove this conjecture in the first open case of $t=4$. Notably, our result also directly implies a stronger version of Hadwiger's conjecture for $5$-chromatic graphs as follows: Every $5$-chromatic graph contains a $K_5$-mi…
The "clustered chromatic number" of a class of graphs is the minimum integer $k$ such that for some integer $c$ every graph in the class is $k$-colourable with monochromatic components of size at most $c$. We prove that for every graph $H$, the clustered chromatic number of the class of $H$-minor-free graphs is tied to the tree-depth of $H$. In particular, if $H$ is connected with tree-depth $t$ then every $H$-minor-free graph is $(2^{t+1}-4)$-colourable with monochromatic components of size at most $c(H)$. This provides the first evidence for a conjecture of Ossona de Mendez, Oum and Wood (20…
The "clustered chromatic number" of a class of graphs is the minimum integer $k$ such that for some integer $c$ every graph in the class is $k$-colourable with monochromatic components of size at most $c$. We determine the clustered chromatic number of any minor-closed class with bounded treedepth, and prove a best possible upper bound on the clustered chromatic number of any minor-closed class with bounded pathwidth. As a consequence, we determine the fractional clustered chromatic number of every minor-closed class.
The clustered chromatic number of a graph class is the minimum integer $t$ such that for some $C$ the vertices of every graph in the class can be colored in $t$ colors so that every monochromatic component has size at most $C$. We show that the clustered chromatic number of the class of graphs embeddable on a given surface is four, proving the conjecture of Esperet and Ochem. Additionally, we study the list version of the concept and characterize the minor-closed classes of graphs of bounded treewidth with given clustered list chromatic number. We further strengthen the above results to solve …
A connected $k$-chromatic graph $G$ is double-critical if for all edges $uv$ of $G$ the graph $G - u - v$ is $(k-2)$-colourable. The only known double-critical $k$-chromatic graph is the complete $k$-graph $K_k$. The conjecture that there are no other double-critical graphs is a special case of a conjecture from 1966, due to Erdős and Lovász. The conjecture has been verified for $k \leq 5$. We prove for $k=6$ and $k=7$ that any non-complete double-critical $k$-chromatic graph is 6-connected and has $K_k$ as a minor.
A fan $F_k$ is a graph that consists of an induced path on $k$ vertices and an additional vertex that is adjacent to all vertices of the path. We prove that for all positive integers $q$ and $k$, every graph with sufficiently large chromatic number contains either a clique of size $q$ or a vertex-minor isomorphic to $F_k$. We also prove that for all positive integers $q$ and $k\ge 3$, every graph with sufficiently large chromatic number contains either a clique of size $q$ or a pivot-minor isomorphic to a cycle of length $k$.
Robin Thomas asked whether for every proper minor-closed class C, there exists a polynomial-time algorithm approximating the chromatic number of graphs from C up to a constant additive error independent on the class C. We show this is not the case: unless P=NP, for every integer k>=1, there is no polynomial-time algorithm to color a K_{4k+1}-minor-free graph G using at most chi(G)+k-1 colors. More generally, for every k>=1 and 1<=β<=4/3, there is no polynomial-time algorithm to color a K_{4k+1}-minor-free graph G using less than beta.chi(G)+(4-3beta)k colors. As far as we know, this is the fir…
It is proved that for every $\varepsilon>0$, there exists $K>0$ such that for every integer $t\ge2$, every graph with chromatic number at least $Kt$ contains a minor with $t$ vertices and edge density at least $1-\varepsilon$. Indeed, building on recent work of Delcourt and Postle on linear Hadwiger's conjecture, for $\varepsilon\in(0,\frac{1}{256})$ we can take $K=C\log\log(1/\varepsilon)$ where $C>0$ is a universal constant, which extends their recent $O(t\log\log t)$ bound on the chromatic number of graphs with no $K_t$ minor.
We start by building up some theory to state Wagner's Theorem, and then prove it using Kuratowski's Theorem, a proof of which is found in Diester (2000). Following this, we establish some connections between the chromatic number of a graph and some of its forbidden minors. The idea is that if we forbid $G$ to have certain graphs as a minor, then the chromatic number of $G$ cannot be too large. Intuitively, this makes sense: if we disallow $G$ from having too many edges, then this makes it easier to colour the graph with fewer colours; we will of course make this precise. We close by explaining…
In 2011, Meunier conjectured that for positive integers $n,k,r,s$ with $ k\geq 2$, $r\geq 2$, and $n\geq \max (\{r,s\})k$, the chromatic number of $s$ -stable $r$-uniform Kneser hypergraphs is equal to $\left\lceil \frac{n-\max (\{r,s\})(k-1)}{r-1}\right\rceil $. It is a strengthened version of the conjecture proposed by Ziegler (2002), and Alon, Drewnowski and Łuczak (2009). The problem about the chromatic number of almost $s$-stable $r$ -uniform Kneser hypergraphs has also been introduced by Meunier (2011). For the $r=2$ case of the Meunier conjecture, Jonsson (2012) provided a purely combin…
We investigate the effect of a fixed forbidden clique minor upon the strong chromatic index, both in multigraphs and in simple graphs. We conjecture for each $k\ge 4$ that any $K_k$-minor-free multigraph of maximum degree $Δ$ has strong chromatic index at most $\frac32(k-2)Δ$. We present a construction certifying that if true the conjecture is asymptotically sharp as $Δ\to\infty$. In support of the conjecture, we show it in the case $k=4$ and prove the statement for strong clique number in place of strong chromatic index. By contrast, we make a basic observation that for $K_k$-minor-free simpl…
Let $V(n,k,s)$ be the set of $k$-subsets $S$ of $[n]$ such that for all $i,j\in S$, we have $|i-j|\geq s$ We define almost $s$-stable Kneser hypergraph $KG^r{{[n]}\choose k}_{s{\tiny{\textup{-stab}}}}^{\displaystyle\sim}$ to be the $r$-uniform hypergraph whose vertex set is $V(n,k,s)$ and whose edges are the $r$-uples of disjoint elements of $V(n,k,s)$. With the help of a $Z_p$-Tucker lemma, we prove that, for $p$ prime and for any $n\geq kp$, the chromatic number of almost 2-stable Kneser hypergraphs $KG^p {{[n]}\choose k}_{2{\tiny{\textup{-stab}}}}^{\displaystyle\sim}$ is equal to the chroma…
Hadwiger's conjecture states that every $K_t$-minor free graph is $(t-1)$-colorable. A qualitative strengthening of this conjecture raised by Gerards and Seymour, known as the Odd Hadwiger's conjecture, states similarly that every graph with no odd $K_t$-minor is $(t-1)$-colorable. For both conjectures, their asymptotic relaxations remain open, i.e., whether an upper bound on the chromatic number of the form $Ct$ for some constant $C>0$ exists. We show that if every graph without a $K_t$-minor is $f(t)$-colorable, then every graph without an odd $K_t$-minor is $2f(t)$-colorable. Using this, th…
We prove that for every $m\in \mathbb N$ and every $δ\in (-m,0)$, the chromatic number of the preferential attachment graph $PA_t(m, δ)$ is asymptotically almost surely equal to $m+1$. The proof relies on a combinatorial construction of a family of digraphs of chromatic number $m+1$ followed by a proof that asymptotically almost surely there is a digraph in this family, which is realised as a subgraph of the preferential attachment graph.
Let $n\ge 1$ and $s\ge 1$ be integers. An almost $s$-stable subset $A$ of $[n]=\{1,\dots,n\}$ is a subset such that for any two distinct elements $i, j\in A$, one has $|i-j|\ge s$. For a family $\cal F$ of non-empty subsets of $[n]$ and an integer $r\ge 2$, the chromatic number of the $r$-uniform Kneser hypergraph $\mbox{KG}^r({\cal F})$, whose vertex set is $\cal F$ and whose edge set is the set of $\{A_1,\dots, A_r\}$ of pairwise disjoint elements in $\cal F$, has been studied extensively in the literature and Abyazi Sani and Alishahi were able to give a lower bound for it in terms of the eq…
A colouring of a graph is "nonrepetitive" if for every path of even order, the sequence of colours on the first half of the path is different from the sequence of colours on the second half. We show that planar graphs have nonrepetitive colourings with a bounded number of colours, thus proving a conjecture of Alon, Grytczuk, Haluszczak and Riordan (2002). We also generalise this result for graphs of bounded Euler genus, graphs excluding a fixed minor, and graphs excluding a fixed topological minor.
In this work we show that, for any fixed d, random d-regular graphs asymptotically almost surely can be coloured with k colours, where k is the smallest integer satisfying d<2(k-1)log(k-1). From previous lower bounds due to Molloy and Reed, this establishes the chromatic number to be asymptotically almost surely k-1 or k. If moreover d>(2k-3)log(k-1), then the value k-1 is discarded and thus the chromatic number is exactly determined. Hence we improve a recently announced result by Achlioptas and Moore in which the chromatic number was allowed to take the value k+1. Our proof applies the small…
We present a necessary and sufficient condition for a graph of odd-girth $2k+1$ to bound the class of $K_4$-minor-free graphs of odd-girth (at least) $2k+1$, that is, to admit a homomorphism from any such $K_4$-minor-free graph. This yields a polynomial-time algorithm to recognize such bounds. Using this condition, we first prove that every $K_4$-minor free graph of odd-girth $2k+1$ admits a homomorphism to the projective hypercube of dimension $2k$. This supports a conjecture of the third author which generalizes the four-color theorem and relates to several outstanding conjectures such as Se…
The planar graph product structure theorem of Dujmović, Joret, Micek, Morin, Ueckerdt, and Wood [J. ACM 2020] states that every planar graph is a subgraph of the strong product of a graph with bounded treewidth and a path. This result has been the key tool to resolve important open problems regarding queue layouts, nonrepetitive colourings, centered colourings, and adjacency labelling schemes. In this paper, we extend this line of research by utilizing shallow minors to prove analogous product structure theorems for several beyond planar graph classes. The key observation that drives our work …
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'…
We use counting arguments to show that asymptotically almost all sparse paving matroids contain an $H$-minor, where $H$ falls into one of several simple classes of matroids. Furthermore the result holds for all $H$ in a larger class of matroids, if we restrict to asymptotically almost all sparse paving matroids of fixed rank $r$ (where $r$ is necessarily no smaller than the rank of $H$).
The $\!{}\bmod k$ chromatic index of a graph $G$ is the minimum number of colors needed to color the edges of $G$ in a way that the subgraph spanned by the edges of each color has all degrees congruent to $1\!\!\pmod k$. Recently, the authors proved that the $\!{}\bmod k$ chromatic index of every graph is at most $198k-101$, improving, for large $k$, a result of Scott [Discrete Math. 175, 1-3 (1997), 289-291]. Here we study the $\!{}\bmod k$ chromatic index of random graphs. We prove that for every integer $k\geq2$, there is $C_k>0$ such that if $p\geq C_kn^{-1}\log{n}$ and $n(1-p) \rightarrow…
The {\em chromatic gap} is the difference between the chromatic number and the clique number of a graph. Here we investigate $\gap(n)$, the maximum chromatic gap over graphs on $n$ vertices. Can the extremal graphs be explored? While computational problems related to the chromatic gap are hopeless, an interplay between Ramsey theory and matching theory leads to a simple and (almost) exact formula for $\gap(n)$ in terms of Ramsey numbers.
A total $k$-coloring of a graph $G$ is a coloring of $V(G)\cup E(G)$ using $k$ colors such that no two adjacent or incident elements receive the same color. The total chromatic number $χ"(G)$ of $G$ is the smallest integer $k$ such that $G$ has a total $k$-coloring. In the paper, it is proved that for any $K_5$-minor-free graph $G$, $χ''(G)\leq Δ(G)+2$ if $Δ(G)\geq 7$. Moreover, $χ"(G)=Δ(G)+1$ if $Δ(G)\geq 10$.
Amit, Linial, and Matou\vsek (Random lifts of graphs III: independence and chromatic number, Random Struct. Algorithms, 2001) have raised the following question: Is the chromatic number of random $h$-lifts of $K_5$ asymptotically (for $h\to\infty$) almost surely equal to a single number? In this paper, we offer the following partial result: The chromatic number of a random lift of $K_5\setminus e$ is asymptotically almost surely three.
A signed graph $(G, σ)$ is a graph $G$ along with a function $σ: E(G) \to \{+,-\}$. A closed walk of a signed graph is positive (resp., negative) if it has an even (resp., odd) number of negative edges, counting repetitions. A homomorphism of a (simple) signed graph to another signed graph is a vertex-mapping that preserves adjacencies and signs of closed walks. The signed chromatic number of a signed graph $(G, σ)$ is the minimum number of vertices $|V(H)|$ of a signed graph $(H, π)$ to which $(G, σ)$ admits a homomorphism.Homomorphisms of signed graphs have been attracting growing attention …
We construct a connected graph H such that (1) χ(H) = ω; (2) K_ω, the complete graph on ωpoints, is not a minor of H. Therefore Hadwiger's conjecture does not hold for graphs with infinite coloring number.
A gain graph is a graph whose edges are labelled invertibly by "gains" from a group. "Switching" is a transformation of gain graphs that generalizes conjugation in a group. A "weak chromatic function" of gain graphs with gains in a fixed group satisfies three laws: deletion-contraction for links with neutral gain, invariance under switching, and nullity on graphs with a neutral loop. The laws lead to the "weak chromatic group" of gain graphs, which is the universal domain for weak chromatic functions. We find expressions, valid in that group, for a gain graph in terms of minors without neutral…
We show that the discrete versions of the systolic inequality that estimate the number of vertices of a simplicial complex from below have substantial applications to graphs, the one-dimensional simplicial complexes. Almost directly they provide good estimates for the number of vertices of a graph in terms of its chromatic number and the length of the smallest odd cycle. Combined with the graph-theoretic techniques of Berlov and Bogdanov, the systolic approach produces even better estimates.
While much attention has been directed to the maximum modulus and maximum real part of chromatic roots of graphs of order $n$ (that is, with $n$ vertices), relatively little is known about the maximum imaginary part of such graphs. We prove that the maximum imaginary part can grow linearly in the order of the graph. We also show that for any fixed $p \in (0,1)$, almost every random graph $G$ in the Erdös-Rényi model has a non-real root.
Let $M$ be an excluded minor for the class of $\mathbb{P}$-representable matroids for some partial field $\mathbb P$, and let $N$ be a $3$-connected strong $\mathbb{P}$-stabilizer that is non-binary. We prove that either $M$ is bounded relative to $N$, or, up to replacing $M$ by a $Δ$-$Y$-equivalent excluded minor, we can choose a pair of elements $\{a,b\}$ such that either $M\backslash \{a,b\}$ is $N$-fragile, or $M^* \backslash \{a,b\}$ is $N^*$-fragile.
A class of graphs is $χ$-bounded if there exists a function $f:\mathbb N\rightarrow \mathbb N$ such that for every graph $G$ in the class and an induced subgraph $H$ of $G$, if $H$ has no clique of size $q+1$, then the chromatic number of $H$ is less than or equal to $f(q)$. We denote by $W_n$ the wheel graph on $n+1$ vertices. We show that the class of graphs having no vertex-minor isomorphic to $W_n$ is $χ$-bounded. This generalizes several previous results; $χ$-boundedness for circle graphs, for graphs having no $W_5$ vertex-minors, and for graphs having no fan vertex-minors.
Let $G$ be a graph. We use $χ(G)$ and $ω(G)$ to denote the chromatic number and clique number of $G$ respectively. A $P_5$ is a path on 5 vertices, and an $HVN$ is a $K_4$ together with one more vertex which is adjacent to exactly two vertices of $K_4$. Combining with some known result, in this paper we show that if $G$ is $(P_5, \textit{HVN})$-free, then $χ(G)\leq \max\{\min\{16, ω(G)+3\}, ω(G)+1\}$. This upper bound is almost sharp.
Let G be an abelian group of cardinality N, where (N,6) = 1, and let A be a random subset of G. Form a graph Gamma_A on vertex set G by joining x to y if and only if x + y is in A. Then, almost surely as N tends to infinity, the chromatic number chi(Gamma_A) is at most (1 + o(1))N/2 log_2 N. This is asymptotically sharp when G = Z/NZ, N prime. Presented at the conference in honour of Bela Bollobas on his 70th birthday, Cambridge August 2013.
A packing $k$-coloring of a graph $G$ is a partition of $V(G)$ into sets $V_1,\ldots,V_k$ such that for each $1\leq i\leq k$ the distance between any two distinct $x,y\in V_i$ is at least $i+1$. The packing chromatic number, $χ_p(G)$, of a graph $G$ is the minimum $k$ such that $G$ has a packing $k$-coloring. Sloper showed that there are $4$-regular graphs with arbitrarily large packing chromatic number. The question whether the packing chromatic number of subcubic graphs is bounded appears in several papers. We answer this question in the negative. Moreover, we show that for every fixed $k$ a…
In a colouring of $\mathbb{R}^d$ a pair $(S,s_0)$ with $S\subseteq \mathbb{R}^d$ and with $s_0\in S$ is \emph{almost monochromatic} if $S\setminus \{s_0\}$ is monochromatic but $S$ is not. We consider questions about finding almost monochromatic similar copies of pairs $(S,s_0)$ in colourings of $\mathbb{R}^d$, $\mathbb{Z}^d$, and in $\mathbb{Q}$ under some restrictions on the colouring. Among other results, we characterise those $(S,s_0)$ with $S\subseteq \mathbb{Z}$ for which every finite colouring of $\mathbb{R}$ without an infinite monochromatic arithmetic progression contains an almost mo…
An $n$-lift of a graph $G$ is a graph from which there is an $n$-to-$1$ covering map onto $G$. Amit, Linial, and Matou\v sek (2002) raised the question of whether the chromatic number of a random $n$-lift of $K_5$ is concentrated on a single value. We consider this problem for $G=K_{d+1}$, and show that for fixed $d\ge 3$ the chromatic number of a random lift of $K_d$ is (asymptotically almost surely) either $k$ or $k+1$, where $k$ is the smallest integer satisfying $d < 2k \log k$. Moreover, we show that, for roughly half of the values of $d$, the chromatic number is concentrated on $k$. The …
A graph is (m, k)-colourable if its vertices can be coloured with m colours such that the maximum degree of any subgraph induced on ver- tices receiving the same colour is at most k. The k-defective chromatic number for a graph is the least positive integer m for which the graph is (m, k)-colourable. All triangle-free graphs on 8 or fewer vertices are (2, 1)-colourable. There are exactly four triangle-free graphs of order 9 which have 1-defective chromatic number 3. We show that these four graphs appear as subgraphs in almost all triangle-free graphs of order 10 with 1-defective chromatic numb…
