Jan Bok, Richard Brewster, Tomás Feder, Pavol Hell, Nikola Jedličková
备注：
final version as appeared in DM, the former paper is split into this and "List homomorphisms to separable signed graphs" (to appear on arXiv during this week)
We consider homomorphisms of signed graphs from a computational perspective. In particular, we study the list homomorphism problem seeking a homomorphism of an input signed graph $(G,σ)$, equipped with lists $L(v) \subseteq V(H), v \in V(G)$, of allowed images, to a fixed target signed graph $(H,π)$. The complexity of the similar homomorphism problem without lists (corresponding to all lists being $L(v)=V(H)$) has been previously classified by Brewster and Siggers, but the list version remains open and appears difficult. We illustrate this difficulty by classifying the complexity of the problem when $H$ is a tree (with possible loops). The tools we develop will be useful for classifications of other classes of signed graphs, and in a future companion paper we will illustrate this by using them to classify the complexity for certain irreflexive signed graphs. The structure of the signed trees in the polynomial cases is interesting, suggesting that the class of general signed graphs for which the problems are polynomial may have nice structure, analogous to the so-called bi-arc graphs (which characterized the polynomial cases of list homomorphisms to unsigned graphs).
We study homomorphism problems of signed graphs. A signed graph is an undirected graph where each edge is given a sign, positive or negative. An important concept for signed graphs is the operation of switching at a vertex, which is to change the sign of each incident edge. A homomorphism of a graph is a vertex-mapping that preserves the adjacencies; in the case of signed graphs, we also preserve the edge-signs. Special homomorphisms of signed graphs, called s-homomorphisms, have been studied. In an s-homomorphism, we allow, before the mapping, to perform any number of switchings on the source…
The CSP dichotomy conjecture has been recently established, but a number of other dichotomy questions remain open, including the dichotomy classification of list homomorphism problems for signed graphs. Signed graphs arise naturally in many contexts, including for instance nowhere-zero flows for graphs embedded in non-orientable surfaces. For a fixed signed graph $\widehat{H}$, the list homomorphism problem asks whether an input signed graph $\widehat{G}$ with lists $L(v) \subseteq V(\widehat{H}), v \in V(\widehat{G}),$ admits a homomorphism $f$ to $\widehat{H}$ with all $f(v) \in L(v), v \in …
We study homomorphism problems of signed graphs from a computational point of view. A signed graph $(G,Σ)$ is a graph $G$ where each edge is given a sign, positive or negative; $Σ\subseteq E(G)$ denotes the set of negative edges. Thus, $(G, Σ)$ is a $2$-edge-coloured graph with the property that the edge-colours, $\{+, -\}$, form a group under multiplication. Central to the study of signed graphs is the operation of switching at a vertex, that results in changing the sign of each incident edge. We study two types of homomorphisms of a signed graph $(G,Σ)$ to a signed graph $(H,Π)$: ec-homomorp…
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 …
A signed graph is a graph together with an assignment of signs to the edges. A closed walk in a signed graph is said to be positive (negative) if it has an even (odd) number of negative edges, counting repetition. Recognizing the signs of closed walks as one of the key structural properties of a signed graph, we define a homomorphism of a signed graph $(G,σ)$ to a signed graph $(H, π)$ to be a mapping of vertices and edges of $G$ to (respectively) vertices and edges of $H$ which preserves incidence, adjacency and the signs of closed walks. In this work we first give a characterization of the s…
A signed graph $(G, Σ)$ is a graph $G$ and a subset $Σ$ of its edges which corresponds to an assignment of signs to the edges: edges in $Σ$ are negative while edges not in $Σ$ are positive. A closed walk of a signed graph is balanced if the product of the signs of its edges (repetitions included) is positive, and unbalanced otherwise. The unbalanced-girth of a signed graph is the length of a shortest unbalanced closed walk (if such a walk exists). A homomorphism of $(G,Σ)$ to $(H,Π)$ is a homomorphism of $G$ to $H$ which preserves the balance of closed walks. In this work, given a signed bipar…
A 2-edge-colored graph or a signed graph is a simple graph with two types of edges. A homomorphism from a 2-edge-colored graph $G$ to a 2-edge-colored graph $H$ is a mapping $φ: V(G) \rightarrow V(H)$ that maps every edge in $G$ to an edge of the same type in $H$. Switching a vertex $v$ of a 2-edge-colored or signed graph corresponds to changing the type of each edge incident to $v$. There is a homomorphism from the signed graph $G$ to the signed graph $H$ if after switching some subset of the vertices of $G$ there is a 2-edge-colored homomorphism from $G$ to $H$. The chromatic number of a 2-e…
A signed graph is a simple graph with two types of edges. Switching a vertex $v$ of a signed graph corresponds to changing the type of each edge incident to $v$. A homomorphism from a signed graph $G$ to another signed graph $H$ is a mapping $φ: V(G) \rightarrow V(H)$ such that, after switching any number of the vertices of $G$, $φ$ maps every edge of $G$ to an edge of the same type in $H$. The chromatic number $χ_s(G)$ of a signed graph $G$ is the order of a smallest signed graph $H$ such that there is a homomorphism from $G$ to $H$. We show that the chromatic number of signed triangular grid…
A homomorphism of a signed graph $(G, σ)$ to $(H, π)$ is a mapping of vertices and edges of $G$ to (respectively) vertices and edges of $H$ such that adjacencies, incidences and the product of signs of closed walks are preserved. Motivated by reformulations of the $k$-coloring problem in this language, and specially in connection with results on $3$-coloring of planar graphs, such as Grötzsch's theorem, in this work we consider bounds on maximum average degree which are sufficient for mapping to the signed graph $(K_{2k}, σ_m)$ ($k\geq 3$) where $σ_m$ assigns to edges of a perfect matching the…
A signed graph is a simple graph with two types of edges: positive and negative edges. Switching a vertex $v$ of a signed graph corresponds to changing the type of each edge incident to $v$. A homomorphism from a signed graph $G$ to another signed graph $H$ is a mapping $φ: V(G) \rightarrow V(H)$ such that, after switching some of the vertices of $G$, $φ$ maps every edge of $G$ to an edge of $H$ of the same type. The chromatic number $χ_s(G)$ of a signed graph $G$ is the order of a smallest signed graph $H$ such that there is a homomorphism from $G$ to $H$. The maximum average degree $mad(G)$ …
Recently Naserasr, Sopena, and Zaslavsky [R. Naserasr, É. Sopena, T. Zaslavsky,Homomorphisms of signed graphs: An update, arXiv: 1909.05982v1 [math.CO] 12 Sep 2019.] published a report on closed walks in signed graphs. They gave a characterization of the sets of closed walks in a graph $G$ which corespond to the set of negative walks in some signed graph on $G$. In this note we show that their characterization is not valid and give a new characterization.
The notion of the circular coloring of signed graphs is a recent one that simultaneously extends both notions of the circular coloring of graphs and $0$-free coloring of signed graphs. A circular $r$-coloring of a signed graph $(G, σ)$ is to assign points of a circle of circumference $r$, $r\geq 2$, to the vertices of $G$ such that vertices connected by a positive edge are at circular distance at least $1$ and vertices connected by a negative edge are at circular distance at most $\frac{r}{2}-1$. The infimum of all $r$ for which $(G, σ)$ admits a circular $r$-coloring is said to be the circula…
Signed list edge coloring in graphs of bounded treewidth
Yan’an University（延安大学）；School of Mathematics and Statistics, Northwestern Polytechnical University（西北工业大学数学与统计学院）；School of Mathematics and Statistics & Key Laboratory of Analytical Mathematics and Applications (Ministry of Education), Fujian Normal University（福建师范大学数学与统计学院与分析数学及应用重点实验室（教育部））；School of Marine Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University（西北工业大学海洋科学与技术学院）
A signed graph $ (G, Σ)$ is a graph positive and negative ($Σ$ denotes the set of negative edges). To re-sign a vertex $v$ of a signed graph $ (G, Σ)$ is to switch the signs of the edges incident to $v$. If one can obtain $ (G, Σ')$ by re-signing some vertices of $ (G, Σ)$, then $ (G, Σ) \equiv (G, Σ')$. A signed graphs $ (G, Σ)$ admits an homomorphism to $ (H, Λ)$ if there is a sign preserving vertex mapping from $(G,Σ')$ to $(H, Λ)$ for some $ (G, Σ) \equiv (G, Σ')$. The signed chromatic number $χ_{s}( (G, Σ))$ of the signed graph $(G, Σ)$ is the minimum order (number of vertices) of a signe…
It is known that, for any $k$-list assignment $L$ of a graph $G$, the number of $L$-list colorings of $G$ is at least the number of the proper $k$-colorings of $G$ when $k>(m-1)/\ln(1+\sqrt{2})$. In this paper, we extend the Whitney's broken cycle theorem to $L$-colorings of signed graphs, by which we show that if $k> \binom{m}{3}+\binom{m}{4}+m-1$ then, for any $k$-assignment $L$, the number of $L$-colorings of a signed graph $Σ$ with $m$ edges is at least the number of the proper $k$-colorings of $Σ$. Further, if $L$ is $0$-free (resp., $0$-included) and $k$ is even (resp., odd), then the lo…
A signed bipartite (simple) graph $(G, σ)$ is said to be $C_{-4}$-critical if it admits no homomorphism to $C_{-4}$ (a negative 4-cycle) but every proper subgraph of it does. In this work, first of all we show that the notion of 4-coloring of graphs and signed graphs is captured, through simple graph operations, by the notion of homomorphism to $C_{-4}$. In particular, the 4-color theorem is equivalent to: Given a planar graph $G$, the signed bipartite graph obtained from $G$ by replacing each edge with a negative path of length 2 maps to $C_{-4}$. We prove that, except for one particular sign…
In this paper, we study the Cartesian product of signed graphs as defined by Germina, Hameed and Zaslavsky (2011). Here we focus on its algebraic properties and look at the chromatic number of some Cartesian products. One of our main results is the unicity of the prime factor decomposition of signed graphs. This leads us to present an algorithm to compute this decomposition in linear time based on a decomposition algorithm for oriented graphs by Imrich and Peterin (2018). We also study the chromatic number of a signed graph, that is the minimum order of a signed graph to which the input signed…
Colouring negative exact-distance graphs of signed graphs
Zhejiang Normal University（浙江师范大学）；Université Paris Cité（巴黎西岱大学）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；IRIF（信息学研究所）；Centre d’Analyse et de Mathématiques Sociales (CNRS, UMR 8557)（分析与数学社会中心）；Instituto de Ingeniería Matemática-CIMFAV（数学工程研究所-CIMFAV）；Universidad de Valparaíso（瓦尔帕莱索大学）；Computer Science Institute of Charles University（查理大学计算机科学研究所）；Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University（查理大学数学与物理学院）
We generalize three classical characterizations of line graphs to line graphs of signed and gain graphs: the Krausz's characterization, the van Rooij and Wilf's characterization and the Beineke's characterization. In particular, we present a list of forbidden gain subgraphs characterizing the class of gain-line graphs. In the case of a signed graph whose underlying graph is a line graph, this list consists of exactly four signed graphs. Under the same hypothesis, we prove that a signed graph is the line graph of a signed graph if and only if its eigenvalues are either greater than $-2$, or les…
Correspondence homomorphisms are both a generalization of standard homomorphisms and a generalization of correspondence colourings. For a fixed target graph $H$, the problem is to decide whether an input graph $G$, with each edge labeled by a pair of permutations of $V(H)$, admits a homomorphism to $H$ `corresponding' to the labels, in a sense explained below. We classify the complexity of this problem as a function of the fixed graph $H$. It turns out that there is dichotomy -- each of the problems is polynomial-time solvable or NP-complete. While most graphs $H$ yield NP-complete problems, t…
Let $Σ$ be a signed graph where two edges joining the same pair of vertices with opposite signs are allowed. The zero-free chromatic number $χ^*(Σ)$ of $Σ$ is the minimum even integer $2k$ such that $G$ admits a proper coloring $f\colon\,V(Σ)\mapsto \{\pm 1,\pm 2,\ldots,\pm k\}$. The zero-free list chromatic number $χ^*_l(Σ)$ is the list version of zero-free chromatic number. $Σ$ is called zero-free chromatic-choosable if $χ^*_l(Σ)=χ^*(Σ)$. We show that if $Σ$ has at most $χ^*(Σ)+1$ vertices then $Σ$ is zero-free chromatic-choosable. This result strengthens Noel-Reed-Wu Theorem which states th…
Minimum cost homomorphism problems can be viewed as a generalization of list homomorphism problems. They also extend two well-known graph colouring problems: the minimum colour sum problem and the optimum cost chromatic partition problem. In both of these problems, the cost function meets an additional constraint: the cost of using a specific colour is the same for every vertex of the input graph. We study minimum cost homomorphism problems with cost functions constrained to have this property. Clearly, when the standard minimum cost homomorphism problem is polynomial, then the problem with co…
A signified graph is a pair $(G, Σ)$ where $G$ is a graph, and $Σ$ is a set of edges marked with '$-$'. Other edges are marked with '$+$'. A signified coloring of the signified graph $(G, Σ)$ is a homomorphism into a signified graph $(H, Δ)$. The signified chromatic number of the signified graph $(G, Σ)$ is the minimum order of $H$. In this paper we show that for every 2-dimensional grid $(G, Σ)$ there exists homomorphism from $(G, Σ)$ into the signed Paley graphs $SP_9$. Hence signified chromatic number of the signified grids is at most 9. This improves upper bound on this number obtained rec…
The Kruskal-Katona theorem together with a theorem of Razborov determine the closure of the set of points defined by the homomorphism density of the edge and the triangle in finite graphs. The boundary of this region is a countable union of algebraic curves, and in particular, it is almost everywhere differentiable. One can more generally consider the region defined by the homomorphism densities of a list of given graphs, and ask whether the boundary is as well-behaved as in the case of the triangle and the edge. Towards answering this question in the negative, we construct examples which show…
A signed graph is a pair $(G,τ)$ of a graph $G$ and its sign $τ$, where a \textit{sign} $τ$ is a function from $\{ (e,v)\mid e\in E(G),v\in V(G), v\in e\}$ to $\{1,-1\}$. Note that graphs or digraphs are special cases of signed graphs. In this paper, we study the toric ideal $I_{(G,τ)}$ associated with a signed graph $(G,τ)$, and the results of the paper give a unified idea to explain some known results on the toric ideals of a graph or a digraph. We characterize all primitive binomials of $I_{(G,τ)}$, and then focus on the complete intersection property. More precisely, we find a complete lis…
In this paper the concept of circular $r$-flows in a mono-directed signed graph $(G, σ)$ is introduced. That is a pair $(D, f)$, where $D$ is an orientation on $G$ and $f: E(G)\to (-r,r)$ satisfies that $|f(e)|\in [1, r-1]$ for each positive edge $e$ and $|f(e)|\in [0, \frac{r}{2}-1]\cup [\frac{r}{2}+1, r)$ for each negative edge $e$, and the total in-flow equals the total out-flow at each vertex. The circular flow index of a signed graph $(G, σ)$ with no positive bridge, denoted $Φ_c(G,σ)$, is the minimum $r$ such that $(G, σ)$ admits a circular $r$-flow. This is the dual notion of circular c…
A "signed graph" is a graph $Γ$ where the edges are assigned sign labels, either "$+$" or "$-$". The sign of a cycle is the product of the signs of its edges. Let $\mathrm{SpecC}(Γ)$ denote the list of lengths of cycles in $Γ$. We equip each signed graph with a vector whose entries are the numbers of negative $k$-cycles for $k\in\mathrm{SpecC}(Γ)$. These vectors generate a subspace of $\mathbb R^{\mathrm{SpecC}(Γ)}$. Using matchings with a strong permutability property, we provide lower bounds on the dimension of this space; in particular, we show for complete graphs, complete bipartite graphs…
DP-coloring of a simple graph is a generalization of list coloring, and also a generalization of signed coloring of signed graphs. It is known that for each $k \in \{3, 4, 5, 6\}$, every planar graph without $C_k$ is 4-choosable. Furthermore, Jin, Kang, and Steffen \cite{JKS} showed that for each $k \in \{3, 4, 5, 6\}$, every signed planar graph without $C_k$ is signed 4-choosable. In this paper, we show that for each $k \in \{3, 4, 5, 6\}$, every planar graph without $C_k$ is 4-DP-colorable, which is an extension of the above results.
Topological and Geometric Perspectives on Homomorphism Indistinguishability
Charles University（查理大学）；Université Côte d’Azur（蔚蓝海岸大学）；Technical University of Denmark（丹麦技术大学）；IT-Universitetet i København（哥本哈根信息技术大学）；Université de Bordeaux（波尔多大学）
Assume $k$ is a positive integer, $λ=\{k_1, k_2, \ldots, k_q\}$ is a partition of $k$ and $G$ is a graph. A $λ$-list assignment of $G$ is a $k$-list assignment $L$ of $G$ such that the colour set $\cup_{v\in V(G)}L(v)$ can be partitioned into $q$ subsets $C_1 \cup C_2 \ldots \cup C_q$ and for each vertex $v$ of $G$, $|L(v) \cap C_i| \ge k_i$. We say $G$ is $λ$-choosable if for each $λ$-list assignment $L$ of $G$, $G$ is $L$-colourable. It follows from the definition that if $λ=\{k\}$, then $λ$-choosable is the same as $k$-choosable, if $λ=\{1,1,\ldots, 1\}$, then $λ$-choosable is equivalent to…
Homomorphisms of (n,m)-graphs with respect to generalised switch
Indian Institute of Technology Dharwad（印度技术学院达瓦尔瓦德分校）；Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, LaBRI, UMR5800（波尔多大学）；Centro de Modelamiento Matemático (CNRS IRL2807), Universidad de Chile（智利大学数学建模中心）
Dvořák and Postle \cite{DP} introduced a \textit{DP-coloring} of a simple graph as a generalization of a list-coloring. They proved a Brooks' type theorem for a DP-coloring, and Bernshteyn, Kostochka and Pron \cite{BKP} extended it to a DP-coloring of multigraphs. However, detailed structure when a multigraph does not admit a DP-coloring was not specified in \cite{BKP}. In this note, we make this point clear and give the complete structure. This is also motivated by the relation to signed coloring of signed graphs.
In this paper we study the existence of homomorphisms $G\to H$ using semidefinite programming. Specifically, we use the vector chromatic number of a graph, defined as the smallest real number $t \ge 2$ for which there exists an assignment of unit vectors $i\mapsto p_i$ to its vertices such that $\langle p_i, p_j\rangle\le -1/(t-1),$ when $i\sim j$. Our approach allows to reprove, without using the Erdős-Ko-Rado Theorem, that for $n>2r$ the Kneser graph $K_{n:r}$ and the $q$-Kneser graph $qK_{n:r}$ are cores, and furthermore, that for $n/r = n'/r'$ there exists a homomorphism $K_{n:r}\to K_{n':…
We investigate a number of coloring problems restricted to bipartite graphs with bounded diameter. First, we investigate the $k$-List Coloring, List $k$-Coloring, and $k$-Precoloring Extension problems on bipartite graphs with diameter at most $d$, proving NP-completeness in most cases, and leaving open only the List $3$-Coloring and $3$-Precoloring Extension problems when $d=3$. Some of these results are obtained through a proof that the Surjective $C_6$-Homomorphism problem is NP-complete on bipartite graphs with diameter at most four. Although the latter result has been already proved [Vika…
