Let $T$ be an unrooted tree. The \emph{chromatic symmetric function} $X_T$, introduced by Stanley, is a sum of monomial symmetric functions corresponding to proper colorings of $T$. The \emph{subtree polynomial} $S_T$, first considered under a different name by Chaudhary and Gordon, is the bivariate generating function for subtrees of $T$ by their numbers of edges and leaves. We prove that $S_T = <Φ,X_T>$, where $<\cdot,\cdot>$ is the Hall inner product on symmetric functions and $Φ$ is a certain symmetric function that does not depend on $T$. Thus the chromatic symmetric function is a stronger isomorphism invariant than the subtree polynomial. As a corollary, the path and degree sequences of a tree can be obtained from its chromatic symmetric function. As another application, we exhibit two infinite families of trees (\emph{spiders} and some \emph{caterpillars}), and one family of unicyclic graphs (\emph{squids}) whose members are determined completely by their chromatic symmetric functions.
In this paper we introduce the concepts of the distinguishing number and the distinguishing chromatic number of a poset. For a distributive lattice $L$ and its set $Q_L$ of join-irreducibles, we use classic lattice theory to show that any linear extension of $Q_L$ generates a distinguishing 2-coloring of $L$. We prove general upper bounds for the distinguishing chromatic number and particular upper bounds for the Boolean lattice and for divisibility lattices. In addition, we show that the distinguishing number of any twin-free Cohen-Macaulay planar lattice is at most 2.
The distinguishing chromatic number of a graph $G$ is the smallest number of colors needed to properly color the vertices of $G$ so that the trivial automorphism is the only symmetry of $G$ that preserves the coloring. We investigate the distinguishing chromatic number for Hamiltonian circulant graphs with maximum degree at most 4.
The distinguishing index of a graph $G$, denoted by $D'(G)$, is the least number of labels in an edge labeling of $G$ not preserved by any non-trivial automorphism. The distinguishing chromatic index $χ'_D (G)$ of a graph $G$ is the least number $d$ such that $G$ has a proper edge labeling with $d$ labels that is preserved only by the identity automorphism of $G$. In this paper we compute the distinguishing chromatic index for some specific graphs. Also we study the distinguishing chromatic index of corona product and join of two graphs.
For a tree $T$, consider its smallest subtree $T^{\circ}$ containing all vertices of degree at least $3$. Then the remaining edges of $T$ lie on disjoint paths each with one endpoint on $T^{\circ}$. We show that the chromatic symmetric function of $T$ determines the size of $T^{\circ}$, and the multiset of the lengths of these incident paths. In particular, this generalizes a proof of Martin, Morin, and Wagner that the chromatic symmetric function distinguishes spiders.
The \textit{Distinguishing Chromatic Number} of a graph $G$, denoted $χ_D(G)$, was first defined in \cite{collins} as the minimum number of colors needed to properly color $G$ such that no non-trivial automorphism $ϕ$ of the graph $G$ fixes each color class of $G$. In this paper, we consider random Cayley graphs $Γ(A,S)$ defined over certain abelian groups $A$ and show that with probability at least $1-n^{-Ω(\log n)}$ we have, $χ_D(Γ)\leχ(Γ) + 1$.
The distinguishing number $D(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the least integer $d$ such that $G$ has a vertex labeling with $d$ labels that is preserved only by a trivial automorphism. The distinguishing chromatic number $χ_{D}(G)$ of $G$ is defined similarly, where, in addition, $f$ is assumed to be a proper labeling. Motivated by a conjecture in \cite{colins}, we prove that if $G$ is a bipartite graph of girth at least six with the maximum degree $Δ(G)$, then $χ_{D}(G)\leq Δ(G)+1$. We also obtain an upper bound for $χ_{D}(G)$ where $G$ is a graph with at most one cycle. Finally, we state a relationshi…
An adjacent vertex distinguishing edge-coloring or an \avd-coloring of a simple graph $G$ is a proper edge-coloring of $G$ such that no pair of adjacent vertices meets the same set of colors. We prove that every graph with maximum degree $Δ$ and with no isolated edges has an \avd-coloring with at most $Δ+300$ colors, provided that $Δ>10^{20}$.
The edge-distinguishing chromatic number (EDCN) of a graph $G$ is the minimum positive integer $k$ such that there exists a vertex coloring $c:V(G)\to\{1,2,\dotsc,k\}$ whose induced edge labels $\{c(u),c(v)\}$ are distinct for all edges $uv$. Previous work has determined the EDCN of paths, cycles, and spider graphs with three legs. In this paper, we determine the EDCN of petal graphs with two petals and a loop, cycles with one chord, and spider graphs with four legs. These are achieved by graph embedding into looped complete graphs.
A graph $G$ is Ramsey for a graph $H$ if every colouring of the edges of $G$ in two colours contains a monochromatic copy of $H$. Two graphs $H_1$ and $H_2$ are Ramsey equivalent if any graph $G$ is Ramsey for $H_1$ if and only if it is Ramsey for $H_2$. A graph parameter $s$ is Ramsey distinguishing if $s(H_1)\neq s(H_2)$ implies that $H_1$ and $H_2$ are not Ramsey equivalent. In this paper we show that the chromatic number is a Ramsey distinguishing parameter. We also extend this to the multi-colour case and use a similar idea to find another graph parameter which is Ramsey distinguishing.
An adjacent vertex distinguishing coloring of a graph G is a proper edge coloring of G such that any pair of adjacent vertices are incident with distinct sets of colors. The minimum number of colors needed for an adjacent vertex distinguishing coloring of G is denoted by $χ'_a(G)$. In this paper, we prove that $χ_a'(G)$ <= 5($Δ+2$)/2 for any graph G having maximum degree $Δ$ and no isolated edges. This improves a result in [S. Akbari, H. Bidkhori, N. Nosrati, r-Strong edge colorings of graphs, Discrete Math. 306 (2006), 3005-3010], which states that $χ_a'(G)$ <= 3$Δ$ for any graph G without is…
Let G be a simple connected graph. Then chi L(G) and chi D(G) will denote the locating chromatic number and the distinguishing chromatic number of G, respectively. In this paper, we investigate a comparison between chi L(G) and chi D(G). In fact, we prove that chi D(G) \leq chi L(G). Moreover, we determine some types of graphs whose locating and distinguishing chromatic numbers are equal. Specially, we characteristic all graph G with the property that chi D(G)= chi L(G) = 3.
A well-studied concept is that of the total chromatic number. A proper total colouring of a graph is a colouring of both vertices and edges so that every pair of adjacent vertices receive different colours, every pair of adjacent edges receive different colours and every vertex and incident edge receive different colours. This paper considers a strengthening of this condition and examines the minimum number of colours required for a total colouring with the additional property that for any adjacent vertices $u$ and $v$, the sets of colours incident to $u$ is different from the set of colours i…
In this paper, we propose an algebraic approach to determine whether two non-isomorphic caterpillar trees can have the same symmetric function generalization of the chromatic polynomial. On the set of all composition on integers, we introduce: An operation, which we call composition product; and a combinatorial polynomial, which we call the composition-lattice polynomial or L-polynomial, that mimics the weighted graph polynomial of Noble and Welsh. We prove a unique irreducible factorization theorem and establish a connection between the L-polynomial of a composition and its irreducible factor…
Nordhaus and Gaddum proved, for any graph G, that the chromatic number of G plus the chromatic number of G complement is less than or equal to the number of vertices in G plus 1. Finck characterized the class of graphs that satisfy equality in this bound. In this paper, we provide a new characterization of this class of graphs, based on vertex degrees, which yields a new polynomial-time recognition algorithm and efficient computation of the chromatic number of graphs in this class. Our motivation comes from our theorem that generalizes the Nordhaus-Gaddum theorem to the distinguishing chromati…
We consider infinite graphs. The distinguishing number $D(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the minimum number of colours in a vertex colouring of $G$ that is preserved only by the trivial automorphism. An analogous invariant for edge colourings is called the distinguishing index, denoted by $D'(G)$. We prove that $D'(G)\leq D(G)+1$. For proper colourings, we study relevant invariants called the distinguishing chromatic number $χ_D(G)$, and the distinguishing chromatic index $χ'_D(G)$, for vertex and edge colourings, respectively. We show that $χ_D(G)\leq 2Δ(G)-1$ for graphs with a finite maximum degree $…
We apply Ramsey theoretic tools to show that there is a family of graphs which have tree-chromatic number at most~$2$ while the path-chromatic number is unbounded. This resolves a problem posed by Seymour.
For a graph $G$ and a tree-decomposition $(T, \mathcal{B})$ of $G$, the chromatic number of $(T, \mathcal{B})$ is the maximum of $χ(G[B])$, taken over all bags $B \in \mathcal{B}$. The tree-chromatic number of $G$ is the minimum chromatic number of all tree-decompositions $(T, \mathcal{B})$ of $G$. The path-chromatic number of $G$ is defined analogously. In this paper, we introduce an operation that always increases the path-chromatic number of a graph. As an easy corollary of our construction, we obtain an infinite family of graphs whose path-chromatic number and tree-chromatic number are dif…
In 1995, Stanley introduced the well-known chromatic symmetric function $X_{G}(x_{1},x_{2},\ldots)$ of a graph $G$. It is a sum of monomial symmetric functions such that for each vertex coloring of $G$ there is exactly one of these summands. The question, whether $X_{G}(x_1,x_{2},\ldots)$ distinguishes nonisomorphic trees with the same number of vertices, is still open in general. For special trees it has already been shown. In 2008, Martin, Morin and Wagner proved it for spiders and some caterpillars. We decompose a tree by separating the leafs and their neighbors and do the same to the remai…
The local chromatic number of a graph G is the number of colors appearing in the most colorful closed neighborhood of a vertex minimized over all proper colorings of G. We show that two specific topological obstructions that have the same implications for the chromatic number have different implications for the local chromatic number. These two obstructions can be formulated in terms of the homomorphism complex Hom(K_2,G) and its suspension, respectively. These investigations follow the line of research initiated by Matousek and Ziegler who recognized a hierarchy of the different topological e…
We show that no tree on twenty vertices with maximum degree ten has Schur positive chromatic symmetric function, thereby providing a counterexample to a conjecture from the paper "Schur and e-positivity of trees and cut vertices".
The degree chromatic polynomial $Pm(G,k)$ of a graph $G$ counts the number of $k$-colorings in which no vertex has $m$ adjacent vertices of its same color. We prove Humpert and Martin's conjecture on the leading terms of the degree chromatic polynomial of a tree.
Among other results, it is shown that 3-trees are $Δ$-edge-choosable and that graphs of tree-width 3 and maximum degree at least 7 are $Δ$-edge-choosable.
A well-known open problem in graph theory asks whether Stanley's chromatic symmetric function, a generalization of the chromatic polynomial of a graph, distinguishes between any two non-isomorphic trees. Previous work has proven the conjecture for a class of trees called spiders. This paper generalizes the class of spiders to $n$-spiders, where normal spiders correspond to $n = 1$, and verifies the conjecture for $n = 2$.
We show that there exist linear-time algorithms that compute the strong chromatic index and a maximum induced matching of tree-cographs when the decomposition tree is a part of the input. We also show that there exist efficient algorithms for the strong chromatic index of (bipartite) permutation graphs and of chordal bipartite graphs.
It is a long-standing question of Stanley whether or not the chromatic symmetric function (CSF) distinguishes unrooted trees. Previously, the best computational result, due to Russell, proved that it distinguishes all trees with at most $25$ vertices. In this paper, we present a novel probabilistic algorithm which may be used to check more efficiently that the CSF distinguishes a set of trees. Applying it, we verify that the CSF distinguishes all trees with up to $29$ vertices.
It is proved that if $G$ is a graph containing a spanning tree with at most three leaves, then the chromatic polynomial of $G$ has no roots in the interval $(1,t_1]$, where $t_1 \approx 1.2904$ is the smallest real root of the polynomial $(t-2)^6 +4(t-1)^2(t-2)^3 -(t-1)^4$. We also construct a family of graphs containing such spanning trees with chromatic roots converging to $t_1$ from above. We employ the Whitney $2$-switch operation to manage the analysis of an infinite class of chromatic polynomials.
Some coloring algorithms gives an upper bound for the locating chromatic number of trees with all the vertices not in an end-path colored by only two colors. That means, a better coloring algorithm could be achieved by optimizing the number of colors used in the end-paths. We provide an estimation of the locating chromatic number of trees using the locating chromatic number of its end-palms. We also study the locating chromatic number of palms, a subdivision of star. We also prove $χ_L(S_n(k))=Θ(n^{1/k})$; $χ_L(S_n(3))=(1+o(1))\sqrt[3]{4n}$; and $χ_L(O_n)=\left\lceil\log_3\left(\frac{n}{4}\rig…
Fong et al. (The game chromatic index of some trees with maximum degree four and adjacent degree-four vertices, J. Comb Optim 36 (2018) 1-12) proved that the game chromatic index of any tree $T$ of maximum degree 4 whose degree-four vertices induce a forest of paths of length $l$ less than 2 is at most 5. In this paper, we show that the bound 5 is also valid for $l\leq 2$. This partially solves the problem of characterization of the trees whose game chromatic index exceeds the maximum degree by at most 1, which was proposed by Cai and Zhu (Game chromatic index of $k$-degenerate graphs, J. Grap…
A star edge coloring of a graph $G$ is a proper edge coloring of $G$ such that every path and cycle of length four in $G$ uses at least three different colors. The star chromatic index of a graph $G$, is the smallest integer $k$ for which $G$ admits a star edge coloring with $k$ colors. In this paper, we present a polynomial time algorithm that finds an optimum star edge coloring for every tree. We also provide some tight bounds on the star chromatic index of trees with diameter at most four, and using these bounds we find a formula for the star chromatic index of certain families of trees.
While the game chromatic number of a forest is known to be at most 4, no simple criteria are known for determining the game chromatic number of a forest. We first state necessary and sufficient conditions for forests with game chromatic number 2 and then investigate the differences between forests with game chromatic number 3 and 4. In doing so, we present a minimal example of a forest with game chromatic number 4, criteria for determining the game chromatic number of a forest without vertices of degree 3, and an example of a forest with maximum degree 3 and game chromatic number 4.
In this paper, we have obtained the total chromatic as well as equitable and neighborhood sum distinguishing total chromatic numbers of some classes of the circulant graphs.
Let H be a tree. It was proved by Rodl that graphs that do not contain H as an induced subgraph, and do not contain the complete bipartite graph $K_{t,t}$ as a subgraph, have bounded chromatic number. Kierstead and Penrice strengthened this, showing that such graphs have bounded degeneracy. Here we give a further strengthening, proving that for every tree H, the degeneracy is at most polynomial in t. This answers a question of Bonamy, Pilipczuk, Rzazewski, Thomasse and Walczak.
This paper deals with the so-called Stanley conjecture, which asks whether they are non-isomorphic trees with the same symmetric function generalization of the chromatic polynomial. By establishing a correspondence between caterpillars trees and integer compositions, we prove that caterpillars in a large class (we call trees in this class proper) have the same symmetric chromatic function generalization of the chromatic polynomial if and only if they are isomorphic.
We investigate the $e$-positivity and Schur positivity of the chromatic symmetric functions of some spider graphs with three legs. We obtain the positivity classification of all broom graphs and that of most double broom graphs. The methods involve extracting particular $e$-coefficients of the chromatic symmetric function of these graphs with the aid of Orellana and Scott's triple-deletion property, and using the combinatorial formula of Schur coefficients by examining certain special rim hook tabloids. We also propose some conjectures on the $e$-positivity and Schur positivity of trees.
Let $f$ be a proper $k$-coloring of a connected graph $G$ and $Π=(V_1,V_2,\ldots,V_k)$ be an ordered partition of $V(G)$ into the resulting color classes. For a vertex $v$ of $G$, the color code of $v$ with respect to $Π$ is defined to be the ordered $k$-tuple $c_{{}_Π}(v)=(d(v,V_1),d(v,V_2),\ldots,d(v,V_k)),$ where $d(v,V_i)=\min\{d(v,x): x\in V_i\}, 1\leq i\leq k$. If distinct vertices have distinct color codes, then $f$ is called a locating coloring. The minimum number of colors needed in a locating coloring of $G$ is the locating chromatic number of $G$, denoted by $\Cchi_{{}_L}(G)$. In th…
One of the major outstanding conjectures in the study of chromatic symmetric functions (CSF's) states that trees are uniquely determined by their CSF's. Though verified on graphs of order up to twenty-nine, this result has been proved only for certain subclasses of trees. Using the definition of the CSF that emerges via the Frobenius character map applied to $\mathbb{C}[S_n]$, we offer new algebraic proofs of several results about the CSF's of trees. Additionally, we prove that a "parent function" of the CSF defined in the group ring of $S_n$ can uniquely determine trees, providing further sup…
The Gyarfas-Sumner conjecture asserts that if H is a tree then every graph with bounded clique number and very large chromatic number contains H as an induced subgraph. This is still open, although it has been proved for a few simple families of trees, including trees of radius two, some special trees of radius three, and subdivided stars. These trees all have the property that their vertices of degree more than two are clustered quite closely together. In this paper, we prove the conjecture for two families of trees which do not have this restriction. As special cases, these families contain …
We investigate which graphs H have the property that in every graph with bounded clique number and sufficiently large chromatic number, some induced subgraph is isomorphic to a subdivision of H. In an earlier paper, one of us proved that every tree has this property; and in another earlier paper with M. Chudnovsky, we proved that every cycle has this property. Here we give a common generalization. Say a banana is the union of a set of paths all with the same ends but otherwise disjoint. We prove that if H is obtained from a tree by replacing each edge by a banana then H has the property mentio…
A coloring of the vertices of a graph G is said to be distinguishing} provided no nontrivial automorphism of G preserves all of the vertex colors. The distinguishing number of G, D(G), is the minimum number of colors in a distinguishing coloring of G. The distinguishing chromatic number of G, chi_D(G), is the minimum number of colors in a distinguishing coloring of G that is also a proper coloring. Recently the notion of a distinguishing coloring was extended to that of a list distinguishing coloring. Given an assignment L= {L(v) : v in V(G)} of lists of available colors to the vertices of G, …
In a 1995 paper Richard Stanley defined $X_G$, the symmetric chromatic polynomial of a Graph $G=(V,E)$. He then conjectured that $X_G$ distinguishes trees; a conjecture which still remains open. $X_G$ can be represented as a certain collection of integer partitions of $|V|$ induced by each $S\subseteq E$, which is very approachable with the aid of a computer. Our research involved writing a computer program for efficient verification of this conjecture for trees up to 23 vertices. In this process, we also gather trees with matching collections of integer partitions of a fixed number of parts. …
The distinguishing number $D(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the least integer $d$ such that $G$ has a vertex labeling with $d$ labels that is preserved only by a trivial automorphism. In this paper we characterize all trees with radius at most three and distinguishing number two. Also we present a necessary condition for trees with distinguishing number two and radius more than three.
