We address the convergence rate of Markov chains for randomly generating an edge coloring of a given tree. Our focus is on the Glauber dynamics which updates the color at a randomly chosen edge in each step. For a tree $T$ with $n$ vertices and maximum degree $Δ$, when the number of colors $q$ satisfies $q\geqΔ+2$ then we prove that the Glauber dynamics has an optimal relaxation time of $O(n)$, where the relaxation time is the inverse of the spectral gap. This is optimal in the range of $q$ in terms of $Δ$ as Dyer, Goldberg, and Jerrum (2006) showed that the relaxation time is $Ω(n^3)$ when $q=Δ+1$. For the case $q=Δ+1$, we show that an alternative Markov chain which updates a pair of neighboring edges has relaxation time $O(n)$. Moreover, for the $Δ$-regular complete tree we prove $O(n\log^2{n})$ mixing time bounds for the respective Markov chain. Our proofs establish approximate tensorization of variance via a novel inductive approach, where the base case is a tree of height $\ell=O(Δ^2\log^2Δ)$, which we analyze using a canonical paths argument.
We study the problem of constructing a (near) uniform random proper $q$-coloring of a simple $k$-uniform hypergraph with $n$ vertices and maximum degree $Δ$. (Proper in that no edge is mono-colored and simple in that two edges have maximum intersection of size one). We show that if $q\geq \max\{C_k\log n,500k^3Δ^{1/(k-1)}\}$ then the Glauber Dynamics will become close to uniform in $O(n\log n)$ time, given a random (improper) start. This improves on the results in Frieze and Melsted [5].
Here we study the problem of sampling random proper colorings of a bounded degree graph. Let $k$ be the number of colors and let $d$ be the maximum degree. In 1999, Vigoda showed that the Glauber dynamics is rapidly mixing for any $k > \frac{11}{6} d$. It turns out that there is a natural barrier at $\frac{11}{6}$, below which there is no one-step coupling that is contractive, even for the flip dynamics. We use linear programming and duality arguments to guide our construction of a better coupling. We fully characterize the obstructions to going beyond $\frac{11}{6}$. These examples turn out t…
A well-known conjecture in computer science and statistical physics is that Glauber dynamics on the set of $k$-colorings of a graph $G$ on $n$ vertices with maximum degree $Δ$ is rapidly mixing for $k\geΔ+2$. In FOCS 1999, Vigoda showed that the flip dynamics (and therefore also Glauber dynamics) is rapidly mixing for any $k>\frac{11}{6}Δ$. It turns out that there is a natural barrier at $\frac{11}{6}$, below which there is no one-step coupling that is contractive with respect to the Hamming metric, even for the flip dynamics. We use linear programming and duality arguments to fully characteri…
Consider the following simple coloring algorithm for a graph on $n$ vertices. Each vertex chooses a color from $\{1, \dotsc, Δ(G) + 1\}$ uniformly at random. While there exists a conflicted vertex choose one such vertex uniformly at random and recolor it with a randomly chosen color. This algorithm was introduced by Bhartia et al. [MOBIHOC'16] for channel selection in WIFI-networks. We show that this algorithm always converges to a proper coloring in expected $O(n \log Δ)$ steps, which is optimal and proves a conjecture of Chakrabarty and Supinski [SOSA'20].
I prove that in a tree in which the distance between any two endpoints is even, there is a maximum proper partial 0-1 coloring such that the edges colored by 0 form a maximum matching.
We investigate the parameterized complexity of the following edge coloring problem motivated by the problem of channel assignment in wireless networks. For an integer q>1 and a graph G, the goal is to find a coloring of the edges of G with the maximum number of colors such that every vertex of the graph sees at most q colors. This problem is NP-hard for q>1, and has been well-studied from the point of view of approximation. Our main focus is the case when q=2, which is already theoretically intricate and practically relevant. We show fixed-parameter tractable algorithms for both the standard a…
Maximum Clique Problem(MCP) is one of the 21 original NP--complete problems enumerated by Karp in 1972. In recent years a large number of exact methods to solve MCP have been appeared(Babel, Wood, Kumlander, Fahle, Li, Tomita and etc). Most of them are branch and bound algorithms that use branching rule introduced by Balas and Yu and based on coloring heuristics to establish an upper bound on the clique number. They differ from each other primarily in vertex preordering and vertex coloring methods. Current methods of worst case running time analysis for branch and bound algorithms do not allow…
A harmonious coloring of $G$ is a proper vertex coloring of $G$ such that every pair of colors appears on at most one pair of adjacent vertices. The harmonious chromatic number of $G$, $h(G)$, is the minimum number of colors needed for a harmonious coloring of $G$. We show that if $T$ is a forest of order $n$ with maximum degree $Δ(T)\geq \frac{n+2}{3}$, then $$h(T)= Δ(T)+2, & if $T$ has non-adjacent vertices of degree $Δ(T)$; Δ(T)+1, & otherwise. $$ Moreover, the proof yields a polynomial-time algorithm for an optimal harmonious coloring of such a forest.
A {\em total coloring} of a graph $G$ is an assignment of colors to the vertices and the edges of $G$ such that every pair of adjacent/incident elements receive distinct colors. The {\em total chromatic number} of a graph $G$, denoted by $\chiup''(G)$, is the minimum number of colors in a total coloring of $G$. The well-known Total Coloring Conjecture (TCC) says that every graph with maximum degree $Δ$ admits a total coloring with at most $Δ+ 2$ colors. A graph is {\em $1$-toroidal} if it can be drawn in torus such that every edge crosses at most one other edge. In this paper, we investigate t…
The reconfiguration graph $R_k(G)$ for the $k$-colorings of a graph $G$ has as vertex set the set of all possible $k$-colorings of $G$ and two colorings are adjacent if they differ in the color of exactly one vertex of $G$. Let $d, k \geq 1$ be integers such that $k \geq d+1$. We prove that for every $ε> 0$ and every graph $G$ with $n$ vertices and maximum average degree $d - ε$, $R_k(G)$ has diameter $O(n(\log n)^{d - 1})$. This significantly strengthens several existing results.
A 2-distance list k-coloring of a graph is a proper coloring of the vertices where each vertex has a list of at least k available colors and vertices at distance at most 2 cannot share the same color. We prove the existence of a 2-distance list $(Δ+ 3)$-coloring for graphs with maximum average degree less than $\frac83$ and maximum degree $Δ\geq 4$ as well as graphs with maximum average degree less than $\frac{14}5$ and maximum degree $Δ\geq 6$.
An edge coloring of a graph $G$ with colors $1,2,..., t$ is called an interval $t$-coloring if for each $i\in \{1,2,...,t\}$ there is at least one edge of $G$ colored by $i$, the colors of edges incident to any vertex of $G$ are distinct and form an interval of integers. In 1994 Asratian and Kamalian proved that if a connected graph $G$ admits an interval $t$-coloring, then $t\leq (d+1) (Δ-1) +1$, and if $G$ is also bipartite, then this upper bound can be improved to $t\leq d(Δ-1) +1$, where $Δ$ is the maximum degree in $G$ and $d$ is the diameter of $G$. In this paper we show that these upper…
A $2$-distance $k$-coloring of a graph is a proper $k$-coloring of the vertices where vertices at distance at most 2 cannot share the same color. We prove the existence of a $2$-distance ($Δ+2$)-coloring for graphs with maximum average degree less than $\frac{8}{3}$ (resp. $\frac{14}{5}$) and maximum degree $Δ\geq 6$ (resp. $Δ\geq 10$). As a corollary, every planar graph with girth at least $8$ (resp. $7$) and maximum degree $Δ\geq 6$ (resp. $Δ\geq 10$) admits a $2$-distance $(Δ+2)$-coloring.
It is an open problem whether the 3-coloring problem can be solved in polynomial time in the class of graphs that do not contain an induced path on $t$ vertices, for fixed $t$. We propose an algorithm that, given a 3-colorable graph without an induced path on $t$ vertices, computes a coloring with $\max\{5,2\lceil{\frac{t-1}{2}}\rceil-2\}$ many colors. If the input graph is triangle-free, we only need $\max\{4,\lceil{\frac{t-1}{2}}\rceil+1\}$ many colors. The running time of our algorithm is $O((3^{t-2}+t^2)m+n)$ if the input graph has $n$ vertices and $m$ edges.
An incidence of an undirected graph G is a pair $(v,e)$ where $v$ is a vertex of $G$ and $e$ an edge of $G$ incident with $v$. Two incidences $(v,e)$ and $(w,f)$ are adjacent if one of the following holds: (i) $v = w$, (ii) $e = f$ or (iii) $vw = e$ or $f$. An incidence coloring of $G$ assigns a color to each incidence of $G$ in such a way that adjacent incidences get distinct colors. In 2005, Hosseini Dolama \emph{et al.}~\citep{ds05} proved that every graph with maximum average degree strictly less than $3$ can be incidence colored with $Δ+3$ colors. Recently, Bonamy \emph{et al.}~\citep{Bon…
An $acyclic$ edge coloring of a graph is a proper edge coloring such that there are no bichromatic cycles. The \emph{acyclic chromatic index} of a graph is the minimum number k such that there is an acyclic edge coloring using k colors and is denoted by $a'(G)$. It was conjectured by Alon, Sudakov and Zaks (and much earlier by Fiamcik) that $a'(G)\le Δ+2$, where $Δ=Δ(G)$ denotes the maximum degree of the graph. We prove that if $G$ is a planar graph with maximum degree $Δ$, then $a'(G)\le Δ+ 12$.
A $2$-distance $k$-coloring of a graph is a proper $k$-coloring of the vertices where vertices at distance at most 2 cannot share the same color. We prove the existence of a $2$-distance ($Δ+1$)-coloring for graphs with maximum average degree less than $\frac{18}{7}$ and maximum degree $Δ\geq 7$. As a corollary, every planar graph with girth at least $9$ and $Δ\geq 7$ admits a $2$-distance $(Δ+1)$-coloring. The proof uses the potential method to reduce new configurations compared to classic approaches on $2$-distance coloring.
We consider the problem of coloring the squares of graphs of bounded maximum average degree, that is, the problem of coloring the vertices while ensuring that two vertices that are adjacent or have a common neighbour receive different colors. Borodin et al. proved in 2004 and 2008 that the squares of planar graphs of girth at least seven and sufficiently large maximum degree $Δ$ are list $(Δ+1)$-colorable, while the squares of some planar graphs of girth six and arbitrarily large maximum degree are not. By Euler's Formula, planar graphs of girth at least $6$ are of maximum average degree less …
An injective $k$-edge-coloring of a graph $G$ is an assignment of colors, i.e. integers in $\{1, \ldots , k\}$, to the edges of $G$ such that any two edges each incident with one distinct endpoint of a third edge, receive distinct colors. The problem of determining whether such a $k$-coloring exists is called k-INJECTIVE EDGE-COLORING. We show that 3-INJECTIVE EDGE-COLORING is NP-complete, even for triangle-free cubic graphs, planar subcubic graphs of arbitrarily large girth, and planar bipartite subcubic graphs of girth~6. 4-INJECTIVE EDGE-COLORING remains NP-complete for cubic graphs. For an…
The generalized list $T$-coloring is a common generalization of many graph coloring models, including classical coloring, $L(p,q)$-labeling, channel assignment and $T$-coloring. Every vertex from the input graph has a list of permitted labels. Moreover, every edge has a set of forbidden differences. We ask for such a labeling of vertices of the input graph with natural numbers, in which every vertex gets a label from its list of permitted labels and the difference of labels of the endpoints of each edge does not belong to the set of forbidden differences of this edge. In this paper we present …
A facial-parity edge-coloring of a $2$-edge-connected plane graph is a facially-proper edge-coloring in which every face is incident with zero or an odd number of edges of each color. A facial-parity vertex-coloring of a $2$-connected plane graph is a facially-proper vertex-coloring in which every face is incident with zero or an odd number of vertices of each color. Czap and Jendroľ (in Facially-constrained colorings of plane graphs: A survey, Discrete Math. 340 (2017), 2691--2703), conjectured that $10$ colors suffice in both colorings. We present an infinite family of counterexamples to bot…
A strong edge-coloring of a graph $G$ is an assignment of colors to edges such that every color class induces a matching. We here focus on bipartite graphs whose one part is of maximum degree at most $3$ and the other part is of maximum degree $Δ$. For every such graph, we prove that a strong $4Δ$-edge-coloring can always be obtained. Together with a result of Steger and Yu, this result confirms a conjecture of Faudree, Gyárfás, Schelp and Tuza for this class of graphs.
We prove that it is NP-complete to determine whether there exists a distance-2 edge coloring (strong edge coloring) with 5 colors of a bipartite 2-inductive graph with girth 6 and maximum degree 3.
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…
We consider the problem of list edge coloring for planar graphs. Edge coloring is the problem of coloring the edges while ensuring that two edges that are incident receive different colors. A graph is k-edge-choosable if for any assignment of k colors to every edge, there is an edge coloring such that the color of every edge belongs to its color assignment. Vizing conjectured in 1965 that every graph is (D+1)-edge-choosable, where D is the maximum degree. In 1990, Borodin solved the conjecture for planar graphs with maximum degree at least 9, and asked whether the bound could be lowered to 8. …
Let $G=G(n)$ be a graph on $n$ vertices with maximum degree $Δ=Δ(n)$. Assign to each vertex $v$ of $G$ a list $L(v)$ of colors by choosing each list independently and uniformly at random from all $k$-subsets of a color set $\mathcal{C}$ of size $σ= σ(n)$. Such a list assignment is called a \emph{random $(k,\mathcal{C})$-list assignment}. In this paper, we are interested in determining the asymptotic probability (as $n \to \infty$) of the existence of a proper coloring $φ$ of $G$, such that $φ(v) \in L(v)$ for every vertex $v$ of $G$, a so-called $L$-coloring. We give various lower bounds on $σ…
A graph is 1-planar if it can be drawn on the plane so that each edge is crossed by at most one other edge. In this paper, we confirm the total-coloring conjecture for 1-planar graphs with maximum degree at least 13.
A 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. The maximum average degree of a graph $G$, denoted by $\mad(G)$, is the maximum of the average degree of all subgraphs of $G$. In this paper, it is proved that if $\mad(G)<4$, then $χ'_a(G)\leq{Δ(G)+2}$; if $\mad(G)<3$, then $χ'_a(G)\leq{Δ(G)+1}$. This implies that every triangle-free planar graph $G$ is acyclically edge $(Δ(G)+2)$-colorable.
For an integer $r>0$, a conditional $(k,r)$-coloring of a graph $G$ is a proper $k$-coloring of the vertices of $G$ such that every vertex $v$ of degree $d(v)$ in $G$ is adjacent to vertices with at least $min\{r, d(v)\}$ different colors. The smallest integer $k$ for which a graph $G$ has a conditional $(k,r)$-coloring is called the $r$th order conditional chromatic number, denoted by $χ_r(G)$. It is easy to see that the conditional coloring is a generalization of the traditional vertex coloring for which $r=1$. In this paper, we consider the complexity of the conditional colorings of graphs.…
An edge-coloring of a graph $G$ with colors $1,...,t$ is called an interval $t$-coloring if all colors are used, and the colors of edges incident to any vertex of $G$ are distinct and form an interval of integers. In 1991 Erdős constructed a bipartite graph with 27 vertices and maximum degree 13 which has no interval coloring. Erdős's counterexample is the smallest (in a sense of maximum degree) known bipartite graph which is not interval colorable. On the other hand, in 1992 Hansen showed that all bipartite graphs with maximum degree at most 3 have an interval coloring. In this paper we give …
Let $G=(V,E)$ be a graph. A (proper) $k$-edge-coloring is a coloring of the edges of $G$ such that any pair of edges sharing an endpoint receive distinct colors. A classical result of Vizing ensures that any simple graph $G$ admits a $(Δ(G)+1)$-edge coloring where $Δ(G)$ denotes the maximum degreee of $G$. Recently, Cabello raised the following question: given two graphs $G_1,G_2$ of maximum degree $Δ$ on the same set of vertices $V$, is it possible to edge-color their (edge) union with $Δ+2$ colors in such a way the restriction of $G$ to respectively the edges of $G_1$ and the edges of $G_2$ …
