Answering a question of Kalai and Meshulam, we prove that graphs without induced cycles of length $3k$ have bounded chromatic number. This implies the very first case of a much broader question asserting that every graph with large chromatic number induces a graph $H$ such that the sum of the Betti numbers of the independence complex of $H$ is also large.
Trotignon and Vuskovic completely characterized graphs that do not contain cycles with exactly one chord. In particular, they show that such a graph G has chromatic number at most max(3,w(G)). We generalize this result to the class of graphs that do not contain cycles with exactly two chords and the class of graphs that do not contain cycles with exactly three chords. More precisely we prove that graphs with no cycle with exactly two chords have chromatic number at most 6. And a graph G with no cycle with exactly three chords have chromatic number at most max(96,w(G)+1).
The induced odd cycle packing number $iocp(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the maximum integer $k$ such that $G$ contains an induced subgraph consisting of $k$ pairwise vertex-disjoint odd cycles. Motivated by applications to geometric graphs, Bonamy et al.~\cite{indoc} proved that graphs of bounded induced odd cycle packing number, bounded VC dimension, and linear independence number admit a randomized EPTAS for the independence number. We show that the assumption of bounded VC dimension is not necessary, exhibiting a randomized algorithm that for any integers $k\ge 0$ and $t\ge 1$ and any $n$-vertex g…
A generalized vertex join of a graph is obtained by joining an arbitrary multiset of its vertices to a new vertex. We present a low-order polynomial time algorithm for finding the chromatic polynomials of generalized vertex joins of trees, and by duality we find the flow polynomials of arbitrary outerplanar graphs. We also present closed formulas for the chromatic and flow polynomials of vertex joins of cliques and cycles, otherwise known as "generalized wheel" graphs.
We introduce the fractional version of oriented coloring and initiate its study. We prove some basic results and study the parameter for directed cycles and sparse planar graphs. In particular, we show that for every $ε> 0$, there exists an integer $g_ε \geq 12$ such that any oriented planar graph having girth at least $g_ε$ has fractional oriented chromatic number at most $4+ε$. Whereas, it is known that there exists an oriented planar graph having girth at least $g_ε$ with oriented chromatic number equal to $5$. We also study the fractional oriented chromatic number of directed cycles and pr…
For a simple graph $G$, a domination coloring of $G$ is a proper vertex coloring such that every vertex of $G$ dominates at least one color class, and every color class is dominated by at least one vertex. The domination chromatic number, denoted by $χ_{dd}(G)$, is minimum number of colors among all domination colorings of $G$. In this paper, we discuss the effects of some typical operations on $χ_{dd}(G)$, such as vertex (edge) removal, vertex (edge) contraction, edge subdivision, and cycle extending.
A strong edge colouring of a graph is an assignment of colours to the edges of the graph such that for every colour, the set of edges that are given that colour form an induced matching in the graph. The strong chromatic index of a graph $G$, denoted by $χ'_s(G)$, is the minimum number of colours needed in any strong edge colouring of $G$. A graph is said to be \emph{chordless} if there is no cycle in the graph that has a chord. Faudree, Gyárfás, Schelp and Tuza~[The Strong Chromatic Index of Graphs, Ars Combin., 29B (1990), pp.~205--211] considered a particular subclass of chordless graphs, n…
A hole is an induced cycle of length at least 4, and an odd hole is a hole of odd length. A full house is a graph composed by a vertex adjacent to both ends of an edge in $K_4$ . Let $H$ be the complement of a cycle on 7 vertices. Chudnovsky et al [6] proved that every (odd hole, $K_4$)-free graph is 4-colorable and is 3-colorable if it does not has $H$ as an induced subgraph. In this paper, we use the proving technique of Chudnovsky et al to generalize this conclusion to (odd hole, full house)-free graphs, and prove that for (odd hole, full house)-free graph $G$, $χ(G)\le ω(G)+1$, and the equ…
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 $Δ(G)+10$.
Erdös conjectured that if $G$ is a triangle free graph of chromatic number at least $k\geq 3$, then it contains an odd cycle of length at least $k^{2-o(1)}$ \cite{sudakovverstraete, verstraete}. Nothing better than a linear bound (\cite{gyarfas}, Problem 5.1.55 in \cite{West}) was so far known. We make progress on this conjecture by showing that $G$ contains an odd cycle of length at least $O(k\log\log k)$. Erdös' conjecture is known to hold for graphs with girth at least 5. We show that if a girth 4 graph is $C_5$ free, then Erdös' conjecture holds. When the number of vertices is not too larg…
The first part of the paper studies star-cycle factors of graphs. It characterizes star-cycle factors of a graph $G$ and proves upper bounds for the minimum number of $K_{1,2}$-components in a $\{K_{1,1}, K_{1,2}, C_n\colon n\ge 3\}$-factor of a graph $G$. Furthermore, it shows where these components are located with respect to the Gallai-Edmonds decomposition of $G$ and it characterizes the edges which are not contained in any $\{K_{1,1}, K_{1,2}, C_n\colon n\ge 3\}$-factor of $G$. The second part of the paper proves that every edge-chromatic critical graph $G$ has a $\{K_{1,1}, K_{1,2}, C_n\…
A graph is called odd (respectively, even) if every vertex has odd (respectively, even) degree. Gallai proved that every graph can be partitioned into two even induced subgraphs, or into an odd and an even induced subgraph. We refer to a partition into odd subgraphs as an odd colouring of G. Scott [Graphs and Combinatorics, 2001] proved that a graph admits an odd colouring if and only if it has an even number of vertices. We say that a graph G is k-odd colourable if it can be partitioned into at most k odd induced subgraphs. We initiate the systematic study of odd colouring and odd chromatic n…
In this article we consider a problem related to two famous combinatorial topics. One of them concerns the chromatic number of the space. The other deals with graphs having big girth (the length of the shortest cycle) and large chromatic number. Namely, we prove that for any $l\in \mathbb{N}$ there exists a sequence of distance graphs in $\mathbb{R}^n$ with girth at least $l$ and the chromatic number equal to $(c+\bar{o}(1))^n$ with $c>1$.
In this paper, we prove that the class of graphs with no triangle and no induced cycle of even length at least 6 has bounded chromatic number. It is well-known that even-hole-free graphs are $χ$-bounded but we allow here the existence of $C_4$. The proof relies on the concept of Parity Changing Path, an adaptation of Trinity Changing Path which was recently introduced by Bonamy, Charbit and Thomassé to prove that graphs with no induced cycle of length divisible by three have bounded chromatic number.
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.
This paper serves as the first extension of the topic of dominator colorings of graphs to the setting of digraphs. We establish the dominator chromatic number over all possible orientations of paths and cycles. In this endeavor we discover that there are infinitely many counterexamples of a graph and subgraph pair for which the subgraph has a larger dominator chromatic number than the larger graph into which it embeds. Finally, a new graph invariant measuring the difference between the dominator chromatic number of a graph and the chromatic number of that graph is established and studied. The …
The Additive Coloring Problem is a variation of the Coloring Problem where labels of $\{1,\ldots,k\}$ are assigned to the vertices of a graph $G$ so that the sum of labels over the neighborhood of each vertex is a proper coloring of $G$. The least value $k$ for which $G$ admits such labeling is called \emph{additive chromatic number} of $G$. This problem was first presented by Czerwiński, Grytczuk and Żelazny who also proposed a conjecture that for every graph $G$, the additive chromatic number never exceeds the classic chromatic number. Up to date, the conjecture has been proved for complete …
A graph $G$ is \emph{chordless} if no cycle in $G$ has a chord. In the present work we investigate the chromatic index and total chromatic number of chordless graphs. We describe a known decomposition result for chordless graphs and use it to establish that every chordless graph of maximum degree $Δ\geq 3$ has chromatic index $Δ$ and total chromatic number $Δ+ 1$. The proofs are algorithmic in the sense that we actually output an optimal colouring of a graph instance in polynomial time.
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…
A {\em strong edge coloring} of a graph $G$ is a proper edge coloring in which every color class is an induced matching. The {\em strong chromatic index} $\chiup_{s}'(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the minimum number of colors in a strong edge coloring of $G$. In this note, we improve a result by D{\k e}bski \etal [Strong chromatic index of sparse graphs, arXiv:1301.1992v1] and show that the strong chromatic index of a $k$-degenerate graph $G$ is at most $(4k-2) \cdot Δ(G) - 2k^{2} + 1$. As a direct consequence, the strong chromatic index of a $2$-degenerate graph $G$ is at most $6Δ(G) - 7$, which impr…
We provide a finite forbidden induced subgraph characterization for the graph class $\varUpsilon_k$, for all $k \in \mathbb{N}_0$, which is defined as follows. A graph is in $\varUpsilon_k$ if for any induced subgraph, $Δ\leq χ-1 + k$ holds, where $Δ$ is the maximum degree and $χ$ is the chromatic number of the subgraph. We compare these results with those given in [O. Schaudt, V. Weil, On bounding the difference between the maximum degree and the clique number, Graphs and Combinatorics 31(5), 1689-1702 (2015). DOI: 10.1007/s00373-014-1468-3], where we studied the graph class $\varOmega_k$, fo…
The square $G^2$ of a graph $G$ is defined on the vertex set of $G$ in such a way that distinct vertices with distance at most two in $G$ are joined by an edge. We study the chromatic number of the square of the Cartesian product $C_m\Box C_n$ of two cycles and show that the value of this parameter is at most 7 except when $m=n=3$, in which case the value is 9, and when $m=n=4$ or $m=3$ and $n=5$, in which case the value is 8. Moreover, we conjecture that whenever $G=C_m\Box C_n$, the chromatic number of $G^2$ equals $\lceil mn/α(G^2) \rceil$, where $α(G^2)$ denotes the size of a maximal indep…
A graph $G$ is said to be ISK4-free if it does not contain any subdivision of $K_4$ as an induced subgraph. In this paper, we propose new upper bounds for chromatic number of ISK4-free graphs and $\{$ISK4, triangle$\}$-free graphs.
Gy{á}rf{á}s et al. and Zaker have proven that the Grundy number of a graph $G$ satisfies $Γ(G)\ge t$ if and only if $G$ contains an induced subgraph called a $t$-atom.The family of $t$-atoms has bounded order and contains a finite number of graphs.In this article, we introduce equivalents of $t$-atoms for b-coloring and partial Grundy coloring.This concept is used to prove that determining if $φ(G)\ge t$ and $\partialΓ(G)\ge t$ (under conditions for the b-coloring), for a graph $G$, is in XP with parameter $t$.We illustrate the utility of the concept of $t$-atoms by giving results on b-critica…
The packing chromatic number $\pcn(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the smallest integer $k$ such that its set of vertices $V(G)$ can be partitioned into $k$ disjoint subsets $V\_1$, \ldots, $V\_k$, in such a way that every two distinct vertices in $V\_i$ are at distance greater than $i$ in $G$ for every $i$, $1\le i\le k$. For a given integer $p \ge 1$, the generalized corona $G\odot pK\_1$ of a graph $G$ is the graph obtained from $G$ by adding $p$ degree-one neighbors to every vertex of $G$. In this paper, we determine the packing chromatic number of generalized coronae of paths and cycles. Moreover, …