A proper vertex colouring of a graph is \emph{nested} if the vertices of each of its colour classes can be ordered by inclusion of their open neighbourhoods. Through a relation to partially ordered sets, we show that the nested chromatic number can be computed in polynomial time.
Clearly, the nested chromatic number is an upper bound for the chromatic number of a graph. We develop multiple distinct bounds on the nested chromatic number using common properties of graphs. We also determine the behaviour of the nested chromatic number under several graph operations, including the direct, Cartesian, strong, and lexicographic product. Moreover, we classify precisely the possible nested chromatic numbers of graphs on a fixed number of vertices with a fixed chromatic number.
Two colourings of a graph are orthogonal if they have the property that when two vertices are coloured with the same colour in one colouring, then those vertices receive distinct colours in the other colouring. In this paper, orthogonal colourings of Cayley graphs are discussed. Firstly, the orthogonal chromatic number of cycle graphs are completely determined. Secondly, the orthogonal chromatic number of certain circulant graphs is explored. Lastly, orthogonal colourings of product graphs and Hamming graphs are studied.
We prove that the list chromatic index of a graph of maximum degree $Δ$ and treewidth $\leq \sqrt{2Δ} -3$ is $Δ$; and that the total chromatic number of a graph of maximum degree $Δ$ and treewidth $\leq Δ/3 +1$ is $Δ+1$. This improves results by Meeks and Scott.
In this paper, perfect k-orthogonal colourings of tensor graphs are studied. First, the problem of determining if a given graph has a perfect 2-orthogonal colouring is reformulated as a tensor subgraph problem. Then, it is shown that if two graphs have a perfect $k$-orthogonal colouring, then so does their tensor graph. This provides an upper bound on the $k$-orthogonal chromatic number for general tensor graphs. Lastly, two other conditions for a tensor graph to have a perfect $k$-orthogonal colouring are given.
The odd colouring number is a new graph parameter introduced by Petruševski and Škrekovski. In this note, we show that graphs with so called product structure have bounded odd-colouring number. By known results on the product structure of $k$-planar graphs, this implies that $k$-planar graphs have bounded odd-colouring number, which answers a question of Cranston, Lafferty, and Song.
We investigate a class of 2-edge coloured bipartite graphs known as alternating signed bipartite graphs (ASBGs) that encode the information in alternating sign matrices. The central question is when a given bipartite graph admits an ASBG-colouring; a 2-edge colouring such that the resulting graph is an ASBG. We introduce the concept of a difference-1 colouring, a relaxation of the concept of an ASBG-colouring, and present a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for when a graph admits a difference-1 colouring. The relationship between distinct difference-1 colourings of a particular graph…
We show that, given an infinite cardinal $μ$, a graph has colouring number at most $μ$ if and only if it contains neither of two types of subgraph. We also show that every graph with infinite colouring number has a well-ordering of its vertices that simultaneously witnesses its colouring number and its cardinality.
A total colouring of a graph is a colouring of its vertices and edges such that no two adjacent vertices or edges have the same colour and moreover, no edge coloured $c$ has its endvertex coloured $c$ too. A weak total Thue colouring of a graph $G$ is a colouring of its vertices and edges such that the colour sequence of consecutive vertices and edges of every path of $G$ is nonrepetitive. In a total Thue colouring also the induced vertex-colouring and edge-colouring of $G$ are nonrepetitive. The weak total Thue number $π_{T_w}(G)$ of a graph $G$ denotes the minimum number of colours required …
The odd chromatic number and the conflict-free chromatic number are new graph parameters introduced by Petruševski and Škrekovski [2021] and Fabrici, Lužar, Rindošová and Soták [2022] respectively. In this note, we show that graphs with bounded $2$-strong colouring number have bounded odd chromatic number and bounded conflict-free chromatic number. This implies that graph classes with bounded expansion have bounded odd chromatic number and bounded conflict-free chromatic number. Moreover, it follows by known results that the odd chromatic number and the conflict-free chromatic number of $k$-pl…
A vertex colouring of a graph is \emph{nonrepetitive on paths} if there is no path $v_1,v_2,...,v_{2t}$ such that v_i and v_{t+i} receive the same colour for all i=1,2,...,t. We determine the maximum density of a graph that admits a k-colouring that is nonrepetitive on paths. We prove that every graph has a subdivision that admits a 4-colouring that is nonrepetitive on paths. The best previous bound was 5. We also study colourings that are nonrepetitive on walks, and provide a conjecture that would imply that every graph with maximum degree $Δ$ has a $f(Δ)$-colouring that is nonrepetitive on w…
We introduce classes of edge-colourings of the complete graph -- that we call nice and beautiful -- and study how many heterochromatic spanning trees appear under such colourings. We prove that if the colouring is nice, there is at least a quadratic number of different heterochromatic trees; and if the colouring is beautiful there is an exponential number of different such trees.
Let $G$ be a graph of maximum degree $Δ$ and $k$ be an integer. The $k$-recolouring graph of $G$ is the graph whose vertices are $k$-colourings of $G$ and where two $k$-colourings are adjacent if they differ at exactly one vertex. It is well-known that the $k$-recolouring graph is connected for $k\geq Δ+2$. Feghali, Johnson and Paulusma [Journal of Graph Theory, 83(4):340--358] showed that the $(Δ+1)$-recolouring graph is composed by a unique connected component of size at least $2$ and (possibly many) isolated vertices. In this paper, we study the proportion of isolated vertices (also called …
This paper proves that for each positive integer $m$, there is a planar graph $G$ which is not $(4m+\lfloor \frac{2m-1}{9}\rfloor,m)$-choosable. Then we pose some conjectures concerning multiple list colouring of planar graphs.
We generalize a framework of list colouring results to correspondence colouring. Correspondence colouring is a generalization of list colouring wherein we localize the meaning of the colours available to each vertex. As pointed out by Dvořák and Postle, both of Thomassen's theorems on the 5-choosability of planar graphs and 3-choosability of planar graphs of girth at least five carry over to the correspondence colouring setting. In this paper, we show that the family of graphs that are critical for 5-correspondence colouring as well as the family of graphs of girth at least five that are criti…
Alon et al. introduced the concept of non-repetitive colourings of graphs. Here we address some questions regarding non-repetitive colourings of planar graphs. Specifically, we show that the faces of any outerplanar map can be non-repetitively coloured using at most five colours. We also give some lower bounds for the number of colours required to non-repetitively colour the vertices of both outerplanar and planar graphs.
Let $c$ and $c'$ be edge or vertex colourings of a graph $G$. We say that $c'$ is less symmetric than $c$ if the stabiliser (in $\operatorname{Aut} G$) of $c'$ is contained in the stabiliser of $c$. We show that if $G$ is not a bicentred tree, then for every vertex colouring of $G$ there is a less symmetric edge colouring with the same number of colours. On the other hand, if $T$ is a tree, then for every edge colouring there is a less symmetric vertex colouring with the same number of edges. Our results can be used to characterise those graphs whose distinguishing index is larger than their d…
The distinguishing index $D'(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the least number of colours needed in an edge colouring which is not preserved by any non-trivial automorphism. Broere and Pilśniak conjectured that if every non-trivial automorphism of a countable graph $G$ moves infinitely many edges, then $D'(G) \leq 2$. We prove this conjecture.
For integer q>1, we derive edge q-colouring models for (i) the Tutte polynomial of a graph G on the hyperbola H_q, (ii) the symmetric weight enumerator of the set of group-valued q-flows of G, and (iii) a more general vertex colouring model partition function that includes these polynomials and the principal specialization order q of Stanley's symmetric monochrome polynomial. In the second half of the paper we exhibit a family of non-symmetric edge q-colouring models defined on k-regular graphs, whose partition functions for q >= k each evaluate the number of proper edge k-colourings of G when…
We deal with a graph colouring problem that arises in quantum information theory. Alice and Bob are each given a $\pm1$-vector of length $k$, and are to respond with $k$ bits. Their responses must be equal if they are given equal inputs, and distinct if they are given orthogonal inputs; however, they are not allowed to communicate any information about their inputs. They can always succeed using quantum entanglement, but their ability to succeed using only classical physics is equivalent to a graph colouring problem. We resolve the graph colouring problem, thus determining that they can succee…
In this paper we prove that if an infinite circulant graph with $k$ distances has a perfect $2$-colouring with parameters $(b, c)$, then $b + c \leq 2k + \frac{b+c}{q^t}$ for all positive integers $t$ and primes $q$ satisfying $\frac{b+c}{gcd(b,c)}\vdots q^t$. In addition, we show that if $b + c = q^t$, then this necessary condition becomes sufficient for the existence of perfect $2$-colourings in circulant graphs.
We survey results concerning reconfigurations of colourings and dominating sets in graphs. The vertices of the $k$-colouring graph $\mathcal{C}_{k}(G)$ of a graph $G$ correspond to the proper $k$-colourings of a graph $G$, with two $k$-colourings being adjacent whenever they differ in the colour of exactly one vertex. Similarly, the vertices of the $k$-edge-colouring graph $\mathcal{EC}_{k}(G)$ of $g$ are the proper $k$-edge-colourings of $G$, where two $k$-edge-colourings are adjacent if one can be obtained from the other by switching two colours along an edge-Kempe chain, i.e., a maximal two…
The Thue colouring of a graph is a colouring such that the sequence of vertex colours of any path of even and finite length in $G$ is non-repetitive. The change in the Thue number, $π(G)$, as edges are iteratively removed from a graph $G$ is studied. The notion of the $τ$-index denoted, $τ(G)$, of a graph $G$ is introduced as well. $τ(G)$ serves as a measure for the efficiency of edge deletion to reduce the Thue chromatic number of a graph.
This paper proves that for each positive integer $m$, there is a triangle-free planar graph $G$ which is not $(3m+ \lceil \frac m{17} \rceil-1, m)$-choosable.
A vertex colouring of a graph is called asymmetric if the only automorphism which preserves it is the identity. Tucker conjectured that if every automorphism of a connected, locally finite graph moves infinitely many vertices, then there is an asymmetric colouring with $2$ colours. We make progress on this conjecture in the special case of graphs with bounded maximal degree. More precisely, we prove that if every automorphism of a connected graph with maximal degree $Δ$ moves infinitely many vertices, then there is an asymmetric colouring using $\mathcal O(\sqrt Δ\log Δ)$ colours. This is the …
In this note we prove the conjecture of \cite{HaWiWi} that every bipartite multigraph with integer edge delays admits an edge colouring with $d+1$ colours in the special case where $d=3$. A connection to the Brualdi-Ryser-Stein conjecture is discussed.
One of the most famous applications of Graph Theory is in the field of Channel Assignment Problems. There are varieties of graph colouring concepts that are used for different requirements of frequency assignments in communication channels. We introduce here L(t, 1)-colouring of graphs. This has its foundation in T-colouring and L(p, q)-colouring. For a given finite set T including zero, an L(t, 1)-colouring of a graph G is an assignment of non-negative integers to the vertices of G such that the difference between the colours of adjacent vertices must not belong to the set T and the colours o…
It was shown by Grohe et al. that nowhere dense classes of graphs admit sparse neighbourhood covers of small degree. We show that a monotone graph class admits sparse neighbourhood covers if and only if it is nowhere dense. The existence of such covers for nowhere dense classes is established through bounds on so-called weak colouring numbers. The core results of this paper are various lower and upper bounds on the weak colouring numbers and other, closely related generalised colouring numbers. We prove tight bounds for these numbers on graphs of bounded tree width. We clarify and tighten the …
A \emph{dynamic colouring} of a graph is a proper colouring in which no neighbourhood of a non-leaf vertex is monochromatic. The \emph{dynamic colouring number} $χ_2(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the least number of colours needed for a dynamic colouring of $G$. Montgomery conjectured that $χ_2(G) \leq χ(G) + 2$ for all regular graphs $G$, which would significantly improve the best current upper bound $χ_2(G) \leq 2χ(G)$. In this note, however, we show that this last upper bound is sharp by constructing, for every integer $n \geq 2$, a regular graph $G$ with $χ(G) = n$ but $χ_2(G) = 2n$. In particular…
A vertex colouring of some graph is called perfect if each vertex of colour $i$ has exactly $a_{ij}$ neighbours of colour $j$. Being perfect imposes several restrictions on the colour incidence matrix $(a_{ij})$. We list several (old and new) necessary conditions for a matrix to be the colour incidence matrix of a perfect colouring. Moreover we show that a certain combination of these conditions is also sufficient. Using this we determine a list of all colour incidence matrices corresponding to perfect colourings of 3-regular, 4-regular and 5-regular graphs with two, three and four colours, re…
It is proved that all 4-edge-colourings of a (sub)cubic graph are Kempe equivalent. This resolves a conjecture of the second author. In fact, it is found that the maximum degree Delta=3 is a threshold for Kempe equivalence of (Delta+1)-edge-colourings, as such an equivalence does not hold in general when Delta=4. One extra colour allows a similar result in this latter case however, namely, when Delta<=4 it is shown that all (Delta+2)-edge-colourings are Kempe equivalent.
A colouring of a graph G is called distinguishing if its stabiliser in Aut G is trivial. It has been conjectured that, if every automorphism of a locally finite graph moves infinitely many vertices, then there is a distinguishing 2-colouring. We study properties of random 2-colourings of locally finite graphs and show that the stabiliser of such a colouring is almost surely nowhere dense in Aut G and a null set with respect to the Haar measure on the automorphism group. We also investigate random 2-colourings in several classes of locally finite graphs where the existence of a distinguishing 2…
For graphs $G$ and $H$, an $H$-colouring of $G$ is a map $ψ:V(G)\rightarrow V(H)$ such that $ij\in E(G)\Rightarrowψ(i)ψ(j)\in E(H)$. The number of $H$-colourings of $G$ is denoted by $\hom(G,H)$. We prove the following: for all graphs $H$ and $δ\geq3$, there is a constant $κ(δ,H)$ such that, if $n\geqκ(δ,H)$, the graph $K_{δ,n-δ}$ maximises the number of $H$-colourings among all connected graphs with $n$ vertices and minimum degree $δ$. This answers a question of Engbers. We also disprove a conjecture of Engbers on the graph $G$ that maximises the number of $H$-colourings when the assumption o…
We prove that every graph with circumference at most $k$ is $O(\log k)$-colourable such that every monochromatic component has size at most $O(k)$. The $O(\log k)$ bound on the number of colours is best possible, even in the setting of colourings with bounded monochromatic degree.
In this paper we introduce the notion of $Σ$-colouring of a graph $G$: For given subsets $Σ(v)$ of neighbours of $v$, for every $v\in V(G)$, this is a proper colouring of the vertices of $G$ such that, in addition, vertices that appear together in some $Σ(v)$ receive different colours. This concept generalises the notion of colouring the square of graphs and of cyclic colouring of graphs embedded in a surface. We prove a general result for graphs embeddable in a fixed surface, which implies asymptotic versions of Wegner's and Borodin's Conjecture on the planar version of these two colourings. …
We prove the first $χ$-bounding function for circle graphs that is optimal up to a constant factor. To be more precise, we prove that every circle graph with clique number at most $ω$ has chromatic number at most $2ω\log_2 (ω) +2ω\log_2(\log_2 (ω)) + 10ω$.
We show that for any $2$-local colouring of the edges of the balanced complete bipartite graph $K_{n,n}$, its vertices can be covered with at most~$3$ disjoint monochromatic paths. And, we can cover almost all vertices of any complete or balanced complete bipartite $r$-locally coloured graph with $O(r^2)$ disjoint monochromatic cycles.\\ We also determine the $2$-local bipartite Ramsey number of a path almost exactly: Every $2$-local colouring of the edges of $K_{n,n}$ contains a monochromatic path on $n$ vertices.
In this paper, two open conjectures are disproved. One conjecture regards independent coverings of sparse partite graphs, whereas the other conjecture regards orthogonal colourings of tree graphs. A relation between independent coverings and orthogonal colourings is established. This relation is applied to find independent coverings of some sparse partite graphs. Additionally, a degree condition providing the existence of an independent covering in the case where the graph has a square number of vertices is found.
An anagram is a word of the form $WP$ where $W$ is a non-empty word and $P$ is a permutation of $W$. A vertex colouring of a graph is anagram-free if no subpath of the graph is an anagram. Anagram-free graph colouring was independently introduced by Kamčev, Łuczak and Sudakov and ourselves. In this paper we introduce the study of anagram-free colourings of graph subdivisions. We show that every graph has an anagram-free $8$-colourable subdivision. The number of division vertices per edge is exponential in the number of edges. For trees, we construct anagram-free $10$-colourable subdivisions wi…
Consider the following two ways to colour the vertices of a graph where the requirement that adjacent vertices get distinct colours is relaxed. A colouring has "defect" $d$ if each monochromatic component has maximum degree at most $d$. A colouring has "clustering" $c$ if each monochromatic component has at most $c$ vertices. This paper surveys research on these types of colourings, where the first priority is to minimise the number of colours, with small defect or small clustering as a secondary goal. List colouring variants are also considered. The following graph classes are studied: outerp…
In 1971, Tomescu conjectured [Le nombre des graphes connexes $k$-chromatiques minimaux aux sommets étiquetés, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 273 (1971), 1124--1126] that every connected graph $G$ on $n$ vertices with $χ(G) = k \geq 4$ has at most $k!(k-1)^{n-k}$ $k$-colourings, where equality holds if and only if the graph is formed from $K_k$ by repeatedly adding leaves. In this note we prove (a strengthening of) the conjecture of Tomescu when $k=5$.
This paper disproves a conjecture of Wang, Wu, Yan and Xie, and answers in negative a question in Dvorak, Pekarek and Sereni. In return, we pose five open problems.
This paper proves the following result: If $G$ is a planar graph and $L$ is a $4$-list assignment of $G$ such that $|L(x) \cap L(y)| \le 2$ for every edge $xy$, then $G$ is $L$-colourable. This answers a question asked by Kratochvíl, Tuza and Voigt in [Journal of Graph Theory, 27(1):43--49, 1998].
The notion of a Galvin orientation of a line graph is introduced, generalizing the idea used by Galvin in his landmark proof of the list-edge-colouring conjecture for bipartite graphs. If L(G) has a proper Galvin orientation with respect to k, then it immediately implies that G is k-list-edge-colourable, but the converse is not true. The stronger property is studied in graphs of the form `bipartite plus an edge', the Petersen graph, cliques, and simple graphs without odd cycles of length 5 or longer.
A subgraph of an edge-coloured graph is called rainbow if all its edges have different colours. We prove a rainbow version of the blow-up lemma of Komlós, Sárközy and Szemerédi that applies to almost optimally bounded colourings. A corollary of this is that there exists a rainbow copy of any bounded-degree spanning subgraph $H$ in a quasirandom host graph $G$, assuming that the edge-colouring of $G$ fulfills a boundedness condition that is asymptotically best possible. This has many applications beyond rainbow colourings, for example to graph decompositions, orthogonal double covers and graph …
The Four Colour Theorem asserts that the vertices of every plane graph can be properly coloured with four colors. Fabrici and Göring conjectured the following stronger statement to also hold: the vertices of every plane graph can be properly coloured with the numbers 1,...,4 in such a way that every face contains a unique vertex coloured with the maximal color appearing on that face. They proved that every plane graph has such a colouring with the numbers 1,...,6. We prove that every plane graph has such a colouring with the numbers 1,...,5 and we also prove the list variant of the statement f…
The colouring number col(G) of a graph G is the smallest integer k for which there is an ordering of the vertices of G such that when removing the vertices of G in the specified order no vertex of degree more than k-1 in the remaining graph is removed at any step. An edge e of a graph G is said to be double-col-critical if the colouring number of G-V(e) is at most the colouring number of G minus 2. A connected graph G is said to be double-col-critical if each edge of G is double-col-critical. We characterise the double-col-critical graphs with colouring number at most 5. In addition, we prove …
An edge-face colouring of a plane graph with edge set $E$ and face set $F$ is a colouring of the elements of $E \cup F$ such that adjacent or incident elements receive different colours. Borodin proved that every plane graph of maximum degree $Δ\ge10$ can be edge-face coloured with $Δ+1$ colours. Borodin's bound was recently extended to the case where $Δ=9$. In this paper, we extend it to the case $Δ=8$.
An edge-colouring of a graph is distinguishing, if the only automorphism which preserves the colouring is the identity. It has been conjectured that all but finitely many connected, finite, regular graphs admit a distinguishing edge-colouring with two colours. We show that all such graphs except $K_2$ admit a distinguishing edge-colouring with three colours. This result also extends to infinite, locally finite graphs. Furthermore, we are able to show that there are arbitrary large infinite cardinals $κ$ such that every connected $κ$-regular graph has distinguishing edge-colouring with two colo…
