The oriented chromatic number of a directed graph $G$ is the minimum order of an oriented graph to which $G$ has a homomorphism. The oriented chromatic number $χ_o({\cal F})$ of a graph family ${\cal F}$ is the maximum oriented chromatic number over any orientation of any graph in ${\cal F}$. For the family of hexagonal grids ${\cal H}_2$, Bielak (2006) proved that $5 \le χ_o({\cal H}_2) \le 6$. Here we close the gap by showing that $χ_o({\cal H}_2) \ge 6$.
An oriented cycle is an orientation of a undirected cycle. We first show that for any oriented cycle $C$, there are digraphs containing no subdivision of $C$ (as a subdigraph) and arbitrarily large chromatic number. In contrast, we show that for any $C$ a cycle with two blocks, every strongly connected digraph with sufficiently large chromatic number contains a subdivision of $C$. We prove a similar result for the antidirected cycle on four vertices (in which two vertices have out-degree $2$ and two vertices have in-degree $2$).
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…
The oriented chromatic polynomial of a oriented graph outputs the number of oriented $k$-colourings for any input $k$. We fully classify those oriented graphs for which the oriented graph has the same chromatic polynomial as the underlying simple graph, closing an open problem posed by Sopena. We find that such oriented graphs can be both identified and constructed in polynomial time as they are exactly the family of quasi-transitive oriented co-interval graphs. We study the analytic properties of this polynomial and show that there exist oriented graphs which have chromatic polynomials have r…
In this paper we consider colorings of oriented graphs, i.e. digraphs without cycles of length 2. Given some oriented graph $G=(V,E)$, an oriented $r$-coloring for $G$ is a partition of the vertex set $V$ into $r$ independent sets, such that all the arcs between two of these sets have the same direction. The oriented chromatic number of $G$ is the smallest integer $r$ such that $G$ permits an oriented $r$-coloring. In this paper we consider the Oriented Chromatic Number problem on classes of recursively defined oriented graphs. Oriented co-graphs (short for oriented complement reducible graphs…
Pushable homomorphisms and the pushable chromatic number $χ_p$ of oriented graphs were introduced by Klostermeyer and MacGillivray in 2004. They notably observed that, for any oriented graph $\overrightarrow{G}$, we have $χ_p(\overrightarrow{G}) \leq χ_o(\overrightarrow{G}) \leq 2 χ_p(\overrightarrow{G})$, where $χ_o(\overrightarrow{G})$ denotes the oriented chromatic number of $\overrightarrow{G}$. This stands as first general bounds on $χ_p$. This parameter was further studied in later works.This work is dedicated to the pushable chromatic number of oriented graphs fulfilling particular degr…
In this note we show every orientation of a connected cubic graph admits an oriented 8-colouring. This lowers the best-known upper bound for the chromatic number of the family of orientations of connected cubic graphs. We further show that every such oriented graph admits a 2-dipath 7-colouring. These results imply that either the chromatic number for the family of oriented connected cubic graphs equals the 2-dipath chromatic number or the long-standing conjecture of Sopena [Journal of Graph Theory 25:191-205 1997] regarding the chromatic number of orientations of connected cubic graphs is fal…
For an oriented graph $G$, let $f(G)$ denote the maximum chromatic number of an acyclic subgraph of $G$. Let $f(n)$ be the smallest integer such that every oriented graph $G$ with chromatic number larger than $f(n)$ has $f(G) > n$. Let $g(n)$ be the smallest integer such that every tournament $G$ with more than $g(n)$ vertices has $f(G) > n$. It is straightforward that $Ω(n) \le g(n) \le f(n) \le n^2$. This paper provides the first nontrivial lower and upper bounds for $g(n)$. In particular, it is proved that $\frac{1}{4}n^{8/7} \le g(n) \le n^2-(2-\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}})n+2$. It is also shown tha…
The independence number, coloring number and related parameters are investigated in the setting of oriented hypergraphs using the spectrum of the normalized Laplace operator. For the independence number, both an inertia--like bound and a ratio--like bound are shown. A Sandwich Theorem involving the clique number, the vector chromatic number and the coloring number is proved, as well as a lower bound for the vector chromatic number in terms of the smallest and the largest eigenvalue of the normalized Laplacian. In addition, spectral partition numbers are studied in relation to the coloring numb…
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…
Although it has recently been proved that the packing chromatic number is unbounded on the class of subcubic graphs, there exists subclasses in which the packing chromatic number is finite (and small). These subclasses include subcubic trees, base-3 Sierpi{ń}ski graphs and hexagonal lattices.In this paper we are interested in the packing chromatic number of subcubic outerplanar graphs. We provide asymptotic bounds depending on structural properties of the outerplanar graphs and determine sharper bounds for some classes of subcubic outerplanar graphs.
Duffy et al. [C. Duffy, G. MacGillivray, and É. Sopena, Oriented colourings of graphs with maximum degree three and four, Discrete Mathematics, 342(4), p. 959--974, 2019] recently considered the oriented chromatic number of connected oriented graphs with maximum degree $3$ and $4$, proving it is at most $9$ and $69$, respectively. In this paper, we improve these results by showing that the oriented chromatic number of non-necessarily connected oriented graphs with maximum degree $3$ (resp. $4$) is at most $9$ (resp. $26$). The bound of $26$ actually follows from a general result which determin…
The Goldberg-Seymour Conjecture for $f$-colorings states that the $f$-chromatic index of a loopless multigraph is essentially determined by either a maximum degree or a maximum density parameter. We introduce an oriented version of $f$-colorings, where now each color class of the edge-coloring is required to be orientable in such a way that every vertex $v$ has indegree and outdegree at most some specified values $g(v)$ and $h(v)$. We prove that the associated $(g,h)$-oriented chromatic index satisfies a Goldberg-Seymour formula. We then present simple applications of this result to variations…
Based on a newly proposed spatial data model - spatial chromatic model (SCM), we developed a spatial coding scheme, called full-coded ordinary arranged chromatic diagram (full-OACD). Full-OACD is a type of spatial tessellation, where space is partitioned into a number of subspaces such as cells, edges, and vertexes. These subspaces are called spatial particles and assigned with unique codes - chromatic codes. The generation, structures, computations, and properties of full-OACD are introduced and relations between chromatic codes and particle spatial topology are investigated, indicating that …
Fix an oriented graph H, and let G be a graph with bounded clique number and very large chromatic number. If we somehow orient its edges, must there be an induced subdigraph isomorphic to H? Kierstead and Rodl raised this question for two specific kinds of digraph H: the three-edge path, with the first and last edges both directed towards the interior; and stars (with many edges directed out and many directed in). Aboulker et al subsequently conjectured that the answer is affirmative in both cases. We give affirmative answers to both questions.
The packing chromatic number $χ$ $ρ$ (G) of an undirected (resp. oriented) graph G is the smallest integer k such that its set of vertices V (G) can be partitioned into k disjoint subsets V 1,..., V k, in such a way that every two distinct vertices in V i are at distance (resp. directed distance) greater than i in G for every i, 1 $\le$ i $\le$ k. The generalized theta graph $Θ$ {\ell} 1,...,{\ell}p consists in two end-vertices joined by p $\ge$ 2 internally vertex-disjoint paths with respective lengths 1 $\le$ {\ell} 1 $\le$ . . . $\le$ {\ell} p. We prove that the packing chromatic number of …
In this paper we prove that the dominator chromatic number of every oriented tree is invariant under reversal of orientation. In addition to this marquee result, we also prove the exact dominator chromatic number for arborescences and anti-arborescences as well as bounds on other orientations of oft studied tree topologies including generalized stars and caterpillars.
Let $k$ and $\ell$ be positive integers. A cycle with two blocks $c(k,\ell)$ is an oriented cycle which consists of two internally (vertex) disjoint directed paths of lengths at least $k$ and $\ell$, respectively, from a vertex to another one. A problem of Addario-Berry, Havet and Thomassé (2007) asked if, given positive integers $k$ and $\ell$ such that $k+\ell\ge 4$, any strongly connected digraph $D$ containing no $c(k,\ell)$ has chromatic number at most $k+\ell-1$. In this paper, we show that such digraph $D$ has chromatic number at most $O((k+\ell)^2)$, improving the previous upper bound …
A path with three blocks $P(k,l,r)$ is an oriented path formed by $k$-forward arcs followed by $l$-backward arcs then $r$-forward arcs. We prove that any $(2k+1)$-chromatic digraph contains a path $P(1,k,1)$. However the existence of $P(1,l,1)$ with $l \geq k$ is established in any $(k+4)$-chromatic digraph. In general, we establish a quadratic bound for paths with three blocks.
An $(m,n)$-mixed graph generalizes the notions of oriented graphs and edge-coloured graphs to a graph object with $m$ arc types and $n$ edge types. A simple colouring of such a graph is a non-trivial homomorphism to a reflexive target. We find that simple chromatic number of complete $(m,n)$-mixed graphs can be found in polynomial time. For planar graphs and $k$-trees ($k \geq 3$) we find that allowing the target to be reflexive does not lower the chromatic number of the respective family of $(m,n)$-mixed graphs. This implies that the search for universal targets for such families may be restr…
In this work we consider arc criticality in colourings of oriented graphs. We study deeply critical oriented graphs, those graphs for which the removal of any arc results in a decrease of the oriented chromatic number by $2$. We prove the existence of deeply critical oriented cliques of every odd order $n\geq 9$, closing an open question posed by Borodin et al. (Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B, 81(1):150-155, 2001). Additionally, we prove the non-existence of deeply critical oriented cliques among the family of circulant oriented cliques of even order.
A distinguishing r-vertex-labelling (resp. r-edge-labelling) of an undirected graph G is a mapping $λ$ from the set of vertices (resp. the set of edges) of G to the set of labels {1,. .. , r} such that no non-trivial automorphism of G preserves all the vertex (resp. edge) labels. The distinguishing number D(G) and the distinguishing index D (G) of G are then the smallest r for which G admits a distinguishing r-vertex-labelling or r-edge-labelling, respectively. The distinguishing chromatic number D $χ$ (G) and the distinguishing chromatic index D $χ$ (G) are defined similarly, with the additio…
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…
The chromatic number for properly colouring the facets of a combinatorial simple $n$-polytope $P^n$ that is the orbit space of a quasitoric manifold satisfies the inequality $n\leq P^n\leq 2^n-1$. The inequality is sharp for $n=2$ but not for $n=3$ due to the Four Color theorem. In this note, we construct a simple 4-polytope admitting a characteristic map whose chromatic number equals $15$ and deduce that the predicted upper bound is attained for $n=4$. Analogues results are verified for the case of oriented small covers in dimensions $4$ and $5$.
