A strong edge coloring of a graph is a proper edge coloring where the edges at distance at most two receive distinct colors. It is known that every planar graph with maximum degree D has a strong edge coloring with at most 4D + 4 colors. We show that 3D + 6 colors suffice if the graph has girth 6, and 3D colors suffice if the girth is at least 7. Moreover, we show that cubic planar graphs with girth at least 6 can be strongly edge colored with at most 9 colors.
A planar graph can be embedded in a piecewise linear manifold, and the lattice on each linear piece can be colored with 3-coloring. If a planar graph can be colored with multiple 3-coloring, i.e. coloring the graph in pieces with different 3-color subsets of 4 colors, then the graph is 4-colorable. In this paper, multiple 3-coloring was introduced, and then the combination and partition of planar graphs for multiple 3-coloring was studied. The study reveals that planar graphs can generally be decomposed into independent subgraphs, and each subgraph can be triangulated into a symmetric structur…
We introduce a new variant of graph coloring called correspondence coloring which generalizes list coloring and allows for reductions previously only possible for ordinary coloring. Using this tool, we prove that excluding cycles of lengths 4 to 8 is sufficient to guarantee 3-choosability of a planar graph, thus answering a question of Borodin.
Thomassen conjectured that every triangle-free planar graph on n vertices has exponentially many 3-colorings, and proved that it has at least 2^[n^(1/12)/20000] distinct 3-colorings. We show that it has at least 2^sqrt(n/362) distinct 3-colorings.
A generalization of list-coloring, now known as DP-coloring, was recently introduced by Dvořák and Postle. Essentially, DP-coloring assigns an arbitrary matching between lists of colors at adjacent vertices, as opposed to only matching identical colors as is done for list-coloring. Several results on list-coloring of planar graphs have since been extended to the setting of DP-coloring. We note that list-coloring results do not always extend to DP-coloring results. Our main result in this paper is to prove that every planar graph without cycles of length $\{4, a, b, 9\}$ for $a, b \in \{6, 7, 8…
DP-coloring (also known as correspondence coloring) is a generalization of list coloring introduced by Dvourák and Postle (2017). Recently, Huang et al. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amc.2019.124562] showed that planar graphs with diameter at most two are $4$-choosable. In this paper, we will prove that planar graphs with diameter at most two are DP-$4$-colorable, which is an extension of the above result.
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…
In the first part, we introduce a notion a degree of edge-colorings of bicubic plane graphs and proves some local formula of the graded number of colorings. In the second part, we give a new proof of a result of Fisk saying that any two edge-3-colorings of a planar bicubic graph are Kempe equivalent. Additionaly we show that the degree of colorings behaves well with respect to Kempe equivalence.
Given a triangle-free planar graph G and a 9-cycle C in G, we characterize situations where a 3-coloring of C does not extend to a proper 3-coloring of G. This extends previous results when C is a cycle of length at most 8.
The concept of DP-coloring of a graph is a generalization of list coloring introduced by Dvořák and Postle in 2015. Multiple DP-coloring of graphs, as a generalization of multiple list coloring, was first studied by Bernshteyn, Kostochka and Zhu in 2019. This paper proves that planar graphs without 3-cycles and normally adjacent 4-cycles are $(7m, 2m)$-DP-colorable for every integer $m$. As a consequence, the strong fractional choice number of any planar graph without 3-cycles and normally adjacent 4-cycles is at most $7/2$.
Thomassen conjectured that triangle-free planar graphs have exponentially many 3-colorings. Recently, he disproved his conjecture by providing examples of such graphs with $n$ vertices and at most $2^{15n/\log_2 n}$ 3-colorings. We improve his construction, giving examples of such graphs with at most $64^{n^{log_{9/2} 3}}<64^{n^{0.731}}$ 3-colorings. We conjecture this exponent is optimal.
In this paper we have given a unified graph coloring algorithm for planar graphs. The problems that have been considered in this context respectively, are vertex, edge, total and entire colorings of the planar graphs. The main tool in the coloring algorithm is the use of spiral chain which has been used in the non-computer proof of the four color theorem in 2004. A more precies explanation of the proof of the four color theorem by spiral chain coloring is also given in this paper. Then we continue to spiral-chain coloring solutions by giving the proof of other famous conjectures of Vizing's to…
Square coloring is a variant of graph coloring where vertices within distance two must receive different colors. When considering planar graphs, the most famous conjecture (Wegner, 1977) states that $\frac32Δ+1$ colors are sufficient to square color every planar graph of maximum degree $Δ$. This conjecture has been proven asymptotically for graphs with large maximum degree. We consider here planar graphs with small maximum degree and show that $2Δ+7$ colors are sufficient, which improves the best known bounds when $6\leqslant Δ\leqslant 31$.
In this article, we use a unified approach to prove several classes of planar graphs are DP-$3$-colorable, which extend the corresponding results on $3$-choosability.
The reconfiguration graph $R_k(G)$ for the $k$-colorings of a graph $G$ has as vertex set the set of all possible proper $k$-colorings of $G$ and two colorings are adjacent if they differ in the color of exactly one vertex. A result of Bousquet and Perarnau (2016) regarding graphs of bounded degeneracy implies that if $G$ is a planar graph with $n$ vertices, then $R_{12}(G)$ has diameter at most $6n$. We improve on the number of colors, showing that $R_{10}(G)$ has diameter at most $8n$ for every planar graph $G$ with $n$ vertices.
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…
We prove that the two-colouring number of any planar graph is at most 8. This resolves a question of Kierstead et al. [SIAM J. Discrete Math.~23 (2009), 1548--1560]. The result is optimal.
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）
We settle a problem of Havel by showing that there exists an absolute constant d such that if G is a planar graph in which every two distinct triangles are at distance at least d, then G is 3-colorable. In fact, we prove a more general theorem. Let G be a planar graph, and let H be a set of connected subgraphs of G, each of bounded size, such that every two distinct members of H are at least a specified distance apart and all triangles of G are contained in \bigcup{H}. We give a sufficient condition for the existence of a 3-coloring phi of G such that for every B\in H, the restriction of phi t…
An \emph{additive coloring} of a graph $G$ is an assignment of positive integers $\{1,2,...,k\}$ to the vertices of $G$ such that for every two adjacent vertices the sums of numbers assigned to their neighbors are different. The minimum number $k$ for which there exists an additive coloring of $G$ is denoted by $η(G)$. We prove that $η(G)\leqslant 468$ for every planar graph $G$. This improves a previous bound $η(G)\leqslant 5544$ due to Norin. The proof uses Combinatorial Nullstellensatz and coloring number of planar hypergrahs. We also demonstrate that $η(G)\leqslant 36$ for 3-colorable plan…
In this paper, we study the achromatic and the pseudoachromatic numbers of planar and outerplanar graphs as well as planar graphs of girth 4 and graphs embedded on a surface. We give asymptotically tight results and lower bounds for maximal embedded graphs.
An \emph{equitable coloring} of a graph is a proper vertex coloring such that the sizes of every two color classes differ by at most 1. Chen, Lih, and Wu conjectured that every connected graph $G$ with maximum degree $Δ\geq 2$ has an equitable coloring with $Δ$ colors, except when $G$ is a complete graph or an odd cycle or $Δ$ is odd and $G=K_{Δ,Δ}.$ Nakprasit proved the conjecture holds for planar graphs with maximum degree at least 9. Zhu and Bu proved that the conjecture holds for every $C_3$-free planar graph with maximum degree at least 8 and for every planar graph without $C_4$ and $C_5$…
It is known that DP-coloring is a generalization of a list coloring in simple graphs and many results in list coloring can be generalized in those of DP-coloring. In this work, we introduce a relaxed DP-coloring which is a generalization if a relaxed list coloring. We also shows that every planar graph $G$ without $4$-cycles or $6$-cycles is DP-$(k,d)^*$-colorable. It follows immediately that $G$ is $(k,d)^*$-choosable.
We consider the so-called coupon-coloring of the vertices of a graph where every color appears in every open neighborhood, and our aim is to determine the maximal number of colors in such colorings. In other words, every color class must be a total dominating set in the graph and we study the total domatic number of the graph. We determine this parameter in every maximal outerplanar graph, and show that every Hamiltonian maximal planar graph has domatic number at least two, partially answering a conjecture of Goddard and Henning.
An {\it odd $c$-coloring} of a graph is a proper $c$-coloring such that each non-isolated vertex has a color appearing an odd number of times on its neighborhood. This concept was introduced very recently by Petru\v sevski and \v Skrekovski and has attracted considerable attention. Cranston investigated odd colorings of graphs with bounded maximum average degree, and conjectured that every graph $G$ with $mad(G)\leq \frac{4c-4}{c+1}$ has an odd $c$-coloring for $c\geq 4$, and proved the conjecture for $c\in\{5, 6\}$. In particular, planar graphs with girth at least $7$ and $6$ have an odd $5$-…
The \textit{$k$-weak-dynamic number} of a graph $G$ is the smallest number of colors we need to color the vertices of $G$ in such a way that each vertex $v$ of degree $d(v)$ sees at least $\rm{min}\{k,d(v)\}$ colors on its neighborhood. We use reducible configurations and list coloring of graphs to prove that all planar graphs have 3-weak-dynamic number at most 6.
Let $G$ be a planar graph without 4-cycles and 5-cycles and with maximum degree $Δ\ge 32$. We prove that $χ_{\ell}(G^2)\le Δ+3$. For arbitrarily large maximum degree $Δ$, there exist planar graphs $G_Δ$ of girth 6 with $χ(G_Δ^2)=Δ+2$. Thus, our bound is within 1 of being optimal. Further, our bound comes from coloring greedily in a good order, so the bound immediately extends to online list-coloring. In addition, we prove bounds for $L(p,q)$-labeling. Specifically, $λ_{2,1}(G)\le Δ+8$ and, more generally, $λ_{p,q}(G)\le (2q-1)Δ+6p-2q-2$, for positive integers $p$ and $q$ with $p\ge q$. Again, …
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.
Thomassen conjectured that triangle-free planar graphs have an exponential number of $3$-colorings. We show this conjecture to be equivalent to the following statement: there exists a positive real $α$ such that whenever $G$ is a planar graph and $A$ is a subset of its edges whose deletion makes $G$ triangle-free, there exists a subset $A'$ of $A$ of size at least $α|A|$ such that $G-(A\setminus A')$ is $3$-colorable. This equivalence allows us to study restricted situations, where we can prove the statement to be true.
We study the following Steinberg-type problem on circular coloring: for an odd integer $k\ge 3$, what is the smallest number $f(k)$ such that every planar graph of girth $k$ without cycles of length from $k+1$ to $f(k)$ admits a homomorphism to the odd cycle $C_k$ (or equivalently, is circular $(k,\frac{k-1}{2})$-colorable). Known results and counterexamples on Steinberg's Conjecture indicate that $f(3)\in\{6,7\}$. In this paper, we show that $f(k)$ exists if and only if $k$ is an odd prime. Moreover, we prove that for any prime $p\ge 5$, $$p^2-\frac{5}{2}p+\frac{3}{2}\le f(p)\le 2p^2+2p-5.$$ …
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 $G$, $m_4(G) \le n - 5$…
A tree-coloring of a maximal planar graph is a proper vertex $4$-coloring such that every bichromatic subgraph, induced by this coloring, is a tree. A maximal planar graph $G$ is tree-colorable if $G$ has a tree-coloring. In this article, we prove that a tree-colorable maximal planar graph $G$ with $δ(G)\geq 4$ contains at least four odd-vertices. Moreover, for a tree-colorable maximal planar graph of minimum degree 4 that contains exactly four odd-vertices, we show that the subgraph induced by its four odd-vertices is not a claw and contains no triangles.
Let $G$ be a graph without 4-cycles and 5-cycles. We show that the problem to determine whether $G$ is $(0,k)$-colorable is NP-complete for each positive integer $k.$ Moreover, we construct non-$(1,k)$-colorable planar graphs without 4-cycles and 5-cycles for each positive integer $k.$ Finally, we prove that $G$ is $(d_1,d_2)$-colorable where $(d_1,d_2)=(4,4), (3,5),$ and $(2,9).$
For a plane near-triangulation $G$ with the outer face bounded by a cycle $C$, let $n^\star_G$ denote the function that to each $4$-coloring $ψ$ of $C$ assigns the number of ways $ψ$ extends to a $4$-coloring of $G$. The block-count reducibility argument (which has been developed in connection with attempted proofs of the Four Color Theorem) is equivalent to the statement that the function $n^\star_G$ belongs to a certain cone in the space of all functions from $4$-colorings of $C$ to real numbers. We investigate the properties of this cone for $|C|=5$, formulate a conjecture strengthening the…
Given an edge-coloring of a simple graph, assign to every vertex $v$ a set $S_v$ comprised of the colors used on the edges incident to $v$. The $k$-intersection chromatic index of a graph is the minimum $t$ such that the edge set can be properly $t$-colored, additionally requiring that for every two adjacent vertices $u$ and $v$, $|S_u \cap S_v| \le k$. For all $k \neq 2$, this value is known for subcubic planar graphs, and furthermore, these values are best possible. We naturally extend this definition to multigraphs with bounded edge multiplicity, and we show that every subcubic planar multi…
DP-coloring (also known as correspondence coloring) is a generalization of list coloring introduced recently by Dvořák and Postle (2017). In this paper, we prove that every planar graph $G$ without $4$-cycles adjacent to $k$-cycles is DP-$4$-colorable for $k=5$ and $6$. As a consequence, we obtain two new classes of $4$-choosable planar graphs. We use identification of verticec in the proof, and actually prove stronger statements that every pre-coloring of some short cycles can be extended to the whole graph.
The reconfiguration graph $R_k(G)$ for the $k$-colorings of a graph $G$ has as vertices all possible $k$-colorings of $G$ and two colorings are adjacent if they differ in the color of exactly one vertex. We use a list coloring technique inspired by results of Thomassen to prove that for a planar graph $G$ with $n$ vertices, $R_{10}(G)$ has diameter at most $8n$, and if $G$ is triangle-free, then $R_7(G)$ has diameter at most $7n$.
Let ${\rm col_g}(G)$ be the game coloring number of a given graph $G.$ Define the game coloring number of a family of graphs $\mathcal{H}$ as ${\rm col_g}(\mathcal{H}) := \max\{{\rm col_g}(G):G \in \mathcal{H}\}.$ Let $\mathcal{P}_k$ be the family of planar graphs of girth at least $k.$ We show that ${\rm col_g}(\mathcal{P}_7) \leq 5.$ This result extends a result about the coloring number by Wang and Zhang {WZ11} (${\rm col_g}(\mathcal{P}_8) \leq 5).$ We also show that these bounds are sharp by constructing a graph $G$ where $G \in {\rm col_g}(\mathcal{P}_k) \geq 5$ for each $k \leq 8$ such t…
