Stanley has studied a symmetric function generalization X_G of the chromatic polynomial of a graph G. The innocent-looking Stanley-Stembridge Poset Chain Conjecture states that the expansion of X_G in terms of elementary symmetric functions has nonnegative coefficients if G is a clawfree incomparability graph. Here we give a combinatorial interpretation of these coefficients by combining Gasharov's work on the conjecture with Egecioglu and Remmel's combinatorial interpretation of the inverse Kostka matrix. This gives a new proof of a partial nonnegativity result of Stanley. As an interesting byproduct we derive a previously unnoticed result relating acyclic orientations to P-tableaux.
Let G be a graph, and let $χ$G be its chromatic polynomial. For any non-negative integers i, j, we give an interpretation for the evaluation $χ$ (i) G (--j) in terms of acyclic orientations. This recovers the classical interpretations due to Stanley and to Green and Zaslavsky respectively in the cases i = 0 and j = 0. We also give symmetric function refinements of our interpretations, and some extensions. The proofs use heap theory in the spirit of a 1999 paper of Gessel.
Erdős proved that there are graphs with arbitrarily large girth and chromatic number. We study the extension of this for generalized chromatic numbers.
We study the chromatic quasisymmetric class function of a linearized combinatorial Hopf monoid. Given a linearized combinatorial Hopf monoid $H$, and an $H$-structure $h$ on a set $N$, there are proper colorings of $h$, generalizing graph colorings and poset partitions. We show that the automorphism group of $h$ acts on the set of proper colorings. The chromatic quasisymmetric class function enumerates the fixed points of this action, weighting each coloring with a monomial. For the Hopf monoid of graphs this invariant generalizes Stanley's chromatic symmetric function and specializes to the o…
The chromatic sum $Σ(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the smallest sum of colors among of proper coloring with the natural number. In this paper, we introduce a necessary condition for the existence of graph homomorphisms. Also, we present $Σ(G)<χ_f(G)|G|$ for every graph $G$.
In this short note, we extend the result of Galluccio, Goddyn, and Hell, which states that graphs of large girth excluding a minor are nearly bipartite. We also prove a similar result for the oriented chromatic number, from which follows in particular that graphs of large girth excluding a minor have oriented chromatic number at most $5$, and for the $p$th chromatic number $χ_p$, from which follows in particular that graphs $G$ of large girth excluding a minor have $χ_p(G)\leq p+2$.
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.
Let $G=(V(G), E(G))$ be a multigraph with maximum degree $Δ(G)$, chromatic index $χ'(G)$ and total chromatic number $χ''(G)$. The Total Coloring conjecture proposed by Behzad and Vizing, independently, states that $χ''(G)\leq Δ(G)+μ(G) +1$ for a multigraph $G$, where $μ(G)$ is the multiplicity of $G$. Moreover, Goldberg conjectured that $χ''(G)=χ'(G)$ if $χ'(G)\geq Δ(G)+3$ and noticed the conjecture holds when $G$ is an edge-chromatic critical graph. By assuming the Goldberg-Seymour conjecture, we show that $χ''(G)=χ'(G)$ if $χ'(G)\geq \max\{ Δ(G)+2, |V(G)|+1\}$ in this note. Consequently, $χ'…
DP-coloring (also called correspondence coloring) is a generalization of list coloring recently introduced by Dvořák and Postle. Several known bounds for the list chromatic number of a graph $G$, $χ_\ell(G)$, also hold for the DP-chromatic number of $G$, $χ_{DP}(G)$. On the other hand, there are several properties of the DP-chromatic number that shows that it differs with the list chromatic number. In this note we show one such property. It is well known that $χ_\ell (K_{k,t}) = k+1$ if and only if $t \geq k^k$. We show that $χ_{DP} (K_{k,t}) = k+1$ if $t \geq 1 + (k^k/k!)(\log(k!)+1)$, and we…
The packing chromatic number $χ_ρ(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the smallest integer $k$ such that there exists a $k$-vertex coloring of $G$ in which any two vertices receiving color $i$ are at distance at least $i+1$. In this short note we present upper and lower bound for the packing chromatic number of the lexicographic product $G\circ H$ of graphs $G$ and $H$. Both bounds coincide in many cases. In particular this happens if $|V(H)|-α(H)\geq {\rm diam}(G)-1$, where $α(G)$ denotes the independence number of $G$.
A connected $n$-chromatic graph $G$ is double-critical if for all the edges $xy$ of $G$, the graph $G-x-y$ is $(n-2)$-chromatic. In 1966, Erd\H os and Lovász conjectured that the only double-critical $n$-chromatic graph is $K_n$. This conjecture remains unresolved for $n \ge 6.$ In this short note, we verify this conjecture for claw-free graphs $G$ of chromatic number $6$.
A {\em chromatic root} is a root of the chromatic polynomial of a graph. While the real chromatic roots have been extensively studied and well understood, little is known about the {\em real parts} of chromatic roots. It is not difficult to see that the largest real chromatic root of a graph with $n$ vertices is $n-1$, and indeed, it is known that the largest real chromatic root of a graph is at most the tree-width of the graph. Analogous to these facts, it was conjectured in [8] that the real parts of chromatic roots are also bounded above by both $n-1$ and the tree-width of the graph. In thi…
Let $P$ be a poset, $inc(P)$ its incomparability graph, and $X_{inc(P)}$ the corresponding chromatic symmetric function, as defined by Stanley in {\em Adv. Math.}, {\bf 111} (1995) pp.~166--194. Certain conditions on $P$ imply that the expansions of $X_{inc(P)}$ in standard symmetric function bases yield coefficients which have simple combinatorial interpretations. By expressing these coefficients as character evaluations, we extend several of these interpretations to {\em all} posets $P$. Consequences include new combinatorial interpretations of the permanent and other immanants of totally no…
Let $G$ be a graph with maximum degree $Δ$ and without isolated vertices. An edge colouring $c$ of $G$ is conflict-free if the closed neighbourhood of every edge includes a uniquely coloured element. The least number of colours admitting such $c$ is the conflict-free chromatic index of $G$, denoted by $χ'_{CF}(G)$. In "Conflict-free chromatic number versus conflict-free chromatic index" [J. Graph Theory, 2022; 99: 349--358] it was recently proved by means of the probabilistic method that $χ'_{CF}(G)\leq C_1\log_2Δ+C_2$, where $C_1>337$ and $C_2$ are constants, whereas there are families of gra…
A sequence is called non-repetitive if no of its subsequences forms a repetition (a sequence $r_1,r_2,\dots,r_{2n}$ such that $r_i=r_{n+i}$ for all $1\leq i \leq n$). Let $G$ be a graph whose vertices are coloured. A colouring $φ$ of the graph $G$ is non-repetitive if the sequence of colours on every path in $G$ is non-repetitive. The Thue chromatic number, denoted by $π(G)$, is the minimum number of colours of a non-repetitive colouring of $G$. In this short note we present a general upper bound for the Thue chromatic number for the lexicographic product $G\circ H$ of graphs $G$ and $H$ with …
The Grundy number of a graph $G$ is the maximum number of colors used by the First-Fit coloring of $G$ and is denoted by $Γ(G)$. Similarly, the ${\rm b}$-chromatic number ${\rm{b}}(G)$ of $G$ expresses the worst case behavior of another well-known coloring procedure i.e. color-dominating coloring of $G$. We obtain some families of graphs $\mathcal{F}$ for which there exists a function $f(x)$ such that $Γ(G)\leq f({\rm{b}}(G))$, for each graph $G$ from the family. Call any such family $(Γ,b)$-bounded family. We conjecture that the family of ${\rm b}$-monotone graphs is $(Γ,b)$-bounded and valid…
In this paper, we study positivity phenomena for the $e$-coefficients of Stanley's chromatic function of a graph. We introduce a new combinatorial object: the {\em correct} sequences of unit interval orders, and using these, in certain cases, we succeed to construct combinatorial models of the coefficients appearing in Stanley's conjecture. Our main result is the proof of positivity of the coefficients $c_{n-k,1^k}$, $c_{n-2,2}$, $c_{n-3,2,1}$ and $c_{2^k,1^{n-2k}}$ of the expansion of the chromatic symmetric function in terms of the basis of the elementary symmetric polynomials for the case o…
A star edge coloring of a graph $G$ is a proper edge coloring of $G$ without bichromatic paths or cycles of length four. The it star chromatic index, $χ_{st}^{'} (G ),$ of $G$ is the minimum number $k$ for which $G$ has a star edge coloring by $k$ colors. In \cite{LB}, L. Bezegov$\acute{a}$ et al. conjectured that $χ_{st}^{'} (G )\leq \lfloor\frac{3Δ}{2}\rfloor+1$ when $G$ is an outerplanar graph with maximum degree $Δ\geq 3.$ In this paper we obtained that $χ_{st}^{'}(G) \leq Δ+6$ when $G$ is an 2-connected outerplanar graph with diameter 2 or 3. If $G$ is an 2-connected outerplanar graph wit…
This article is dedicated to the study of positivity phenomena for the chromatic symmetric function of a graph with respect to various bases of symmetric functions. We give a new proof of Gasharov's theorem on the Schur-positivity of the chromatic symmetric function of a $(3 + 1)$-free poset. We present a combinatorial interpretation of the Schur-coefficients in terms of planar networks. Compared to Gasharov's proof, it gives a clearer visual illustration of the cancellation procedures and is quite similar in spirit to the proof of monomial positivity of Schur functions via the Lindstrom-Gesse…
This note exhibits graphs whose chromatic polynomials have the Beraha number $B_{10} = (5 + \sqrt{5})/2$ as a root. It was previously known that no other non-integer Beraha number is a chromatic root, and so these examples complete the determination of precisely which Beraha numbers can be chromatic roots.
Stiebitz determined the chromatic number of generalised Mycielski graphs using the topological method of Lovasz, which invokes the Borsuk-Ulam theorem. Van Ngoc and Tuza used elementary combinatorial arguments to prove Stiebitz's theorem for 4-chromatic generalised Mycielski graphs, and asked if there is also an elementary combinatorial proof for higher chromatic number. We answer their question by showing that Stiebitz's theorem can be deduced from a version of Fan's combinatorial lemma. Our proof uses topological terminology, but is otherwise completely discrete and could be rewritten to avo…
In this note, we introduce a new method for constructing graphs with high chromatic number and small clique. Indeed, via this method, we present a new proof for the well-known Kneser's conjecture.
Tree-chromatic number is a chromatic version of treewidth, where the cost of a bag in a tree-decomposition is measured by its chromatic number rather than its size. Path-chromatic number is defined analogously. These parameters were introduced by Seymour (JCTB 2016). In this paper, we survey all the known results on tree- and path-chromatic number and then present some new results and conjectures. In particular, we propose a version of Hadwiger's Conjecture for tree-chromatic number. As evidence that our conjecture may be more tractable than Hadwiger's Conjecture, we give a short proof that ev…
We prove that for every $m\in \mathbb N$ and every $δ\in (-m,0)$, the chromatic number of the preferential attachment graph $PA_t(m, δ)$ is asymptotically almost surely equal to $m+1$. The proof relies on a combinatorial construction of a family of digraphs of chromatic number $m+1$ followed by a proof that asymptotically almost surely there is a digraph in this family, which is realised as a subgraph of the preferential attachment graph.
A number of famous results about triangle-free graphs determine the maximum chromatic number of graphs of order n with minimum degree greater than n/3. In this note these results are extended to Kr-free graphs.
The chromatic quasisymmetric function of a graph was introduced by Shareshian and Wachs as a refinement of Stanley's chromatic symmetric function. An explicit combinatorial formula, conjectured by Shareshian and Wachs, expressing the chromatic quasisymmetric function of the incomparability graph of a natural unit interval order in terms of power sum symmetric functions, is proven. The proof uses a formula of Roichman for the irreducible characters of the symmetric group.
In this note, we prove that for any integer $n\geq 3$ the b-chromatic number of the Kneser graph $KG(m,n)$ is greater than or equal to $2{\lfloor {m\over 2} \rfloor \choose n}$. This gives an affirmative answer to a conjecture of [6].
The chromatic symmetric function $X_H$ of a hypergraph $H$ is the generating function for all colorings of $H$ so that no edge is monochromatic. When $H$ is an ordinary graph, it is known that $X_H$ is positive in the fundamental quasisymmetric functions $F_S$, but this is not the case for general hypergraphs. We exhibit a class of hypergraphs $H$ --- hypertrees with prime-sized edges --- for which $X_H$ is $F$-positive, and give an explicit combinatorial interpretation for the $F$-coefficients of $X_H$.
Plethysm is a fundamental operation in symmetric function theory, derived directly from its connection with representation theory. However, it does not admit a simple combinatorial interpretation, and finding coefficients of Schur function plethysms is a major open question. In this paper, we introduce a graph-theoretic interpretation for any plethysm based on the chromatic symmetric function. We use this interpretation to give simple proofs of new and previously known plethystic identities, as well as chromatic symmetric function identities.
Recently, Balogh, Kostochka and Liu in [Packing chromatic number of cubic graphs, Discrete Math.~341 (2018) 474--483] answered in negative the question that was posed in several earlier papers whether the packing chromatic number is bounded in the class of graphs with maximum degree $3$. In this note, we present an explicit infinite family of subcubic graphs with unbounded packing chromatic number.
{\emph A star edge-coloring} of a graph is a proper edge-coloring without bichromatic paths and cycles of length four. In this paper, we consider the list version of this coloring and prove that the list star chromatic index of every subcubic graph is at most $7$, answering the question of Dvořák et al. (Star chromatic index, J. Graph Theory 72 (2013), 313--326).
The famous Hadwiger-Nelson problem asks for the minimum number of colors needed to color the points of the Euclidean plane so that no two points unit distance apart are assigned the same color. In this note we consider a variant of the problem in Minkowski metric planes, where the unit circle is a regular polygon of even and at most 22 vertices. We present a simple lattice-sublattice coloring scheme that uses 6 colors, proving that the chromatic number of the Minkowski planes above are at most 6. This result is new for regular polygons having more than 8 vertices.
We introduce a quasisymmetric class function associated with a group acting on a double poset or on a directed graph. The latter is a generalization of the chromatic quasisymmetric function of a digraph introduced by Ellzey, while the latter is a generalization of a quasisymmetric function introduced by Grinberg. We prove representation-theoretic analogues of classical and recent results, including $F$-positivity, and combinatorial reciprocity theorems. We also deduce results for orbital quasisymmetric functions. We also study a generalization of the notion of strongly flawless sequences.
Stanley introduced the chromatic symmetric function of a simple graph, which is a generalization of a chromatic polynomial. This is expressed in terms of the integer points of the complements of the corresponding graphic arrangement. Stanley proved a combinatorial reciprocity theorem for chromatic functions. This is considered as an Ehrhart-type reciprocity theorem for the graphic arrangement. We introduce the chromatic signed-symmetric function of a signed graph, an analogue of the chromatic symmetric function, by the integer points of the complements of the corresponding signed-graphic arran…
The absolute value of the coefficient of $q$ in the chromatic polynomial of a graph $G$ is known as the chromatic discriminant of $G$ and is denoted $α(G)$. There is a well known recurrence formula for $α(G)$ that comes from the deletion-contraction rule for the chromatic polynomial. In this paper we prove another recurrence formula for $α(G)$ that comes from the theory of Kac-Moody Lie algebras. We start with a brief survey on many interesting algebraic and combinatorial interpretations of $α(G)$. We use two of these interpretations (in terms of acyclic orientations and spanning trees) to giv…
Let 0<p<1 be fixed. Shamir and Spencer proved in the 1980s that the chromatic number of a random graph in G(n,p) is concentrated in an interval of length about n^{1/2}. In this explanatory note, we give a proof of a result due due Noga Alon, showing that the chromatic number is concentrated in an interval of length about n^{1/2}/log n.
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.
The anagram-free chromatic number is a new graph parameter introduced independently Kamčev, Łuczak, and Sudakov (2017) and Wilson and Wood (2017). In this note, we show that there are planar graphs of pathwidth 3 with arbitrarily large anagram-free chromatic number. More specifically, we describe $2n$-vertex planar graphs of pathwidth 3 with anagram-free chromatic number $Ω(\log n)$. We also describe $kn$ vertex graphs with pathwidth $2k-1$ having anagram-free chromatic number in $Ω(k\log n)$.
In this work, the classical Nelson -- Hadwiger problem is studied which lies on the edge of combinatorial geometry and graph theory. It concerns colorings of distance graphs in $ {\mathbb R}^n $, i.e., graphs such that their vertices are vectors and their edges are pairs of vectors at a distance from a given set of postive numbers apart. A series of new lower bounds are obtained for the chromatic numbers of such graphs with different restrictions on the clique numbers and the girths.
Recently, Kupavskii~[{\it On random subgraphs of {K}neser and {S}chrijver graphs. J. Combin. Theory Ser. A, {\rm 2016}.}] investigated the chromatic number of random Kneser graphs $\KG_{n,k}(ρ)$ and proved that, in many cases, the chromatic numbers of the random Kneser graph $\KG_{n,k}(ρ)$ and the Kneser graph $\KG_{n,k}$ are almost surely closed. He also marked the studying of the chromatic number of random Kneser hypergraphs $\KG^r_{n,k}(ρ)$ as a very interesting problem. With the help of $\Z_p$-Tucker lemma, a combinatorial generalization of the Borsuk-Ulam theorem, we generalize Kupavskii'…
A note on vertex-critical induced subgraphs of shift graphs
University of West Bohemia（西波希米亚大学）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；IRIF（IRIF实验室）；Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana（卢布尔雅那大学数学物理学院）；Faculty of Information Studies in Novo Mesto（诺沃梅斯托信息研究学院）；Rudolfovo – Science and Technology Centre（鲁多维福科学与技术中心）；University of Southern Denmark（南丹麦大学）
We study Dohmen--Pönitz--Tittmann's bivariate chromatic polynomial $c_Γ(k,l)$ which counts all $(k+l)$-colorings of a graph $Γ$ such that adjacent vertices get different colors if they are $\le k$. Our first contribution is an extension of $c_Γ(k,l)$ to signed graphs, for which we obtain an inclusion--exclusion formula and several special evaluations giving rise, e.g., to polynomials that encode balanced subgraphs. Our second goal is to derive combinatorial reciprocity theorems for $c_Γ(k,l)$ and its signed-graph analogues, reminiscent of Stanley's reciprocity theorem linking chromatic polynom…
In this note we obtain a new bound for the acyclic edge chromatic number $a'(G)$ of a graph $G$ with maximum degree $D$ proving that $a'(G)\leq 3.569(D-1)$. To get this result we revisit and slightly modify the method described in [Giotis, Kirousis, Psaromiligkos and Thilikos, Theoretical Computer Science, 66: 40-50, 2017].
In this short note we observe that recent results of Abert and Hubai and of Csikvari and Frenkel about Benjamini--Schramm continuity of the holomorphic moments of the roots of the chromatic polynomial extend to the theory of dense graph sequences. We offer a number of problems and conjectures motivated by this observation.
Let $G = (V,E)$ be a connected simple graph. A bijection $f: E \rightarrow \{1,2,\ldots,|E|\}$ is called a local antimagic labeling of $G$ if $f^+(u) \neq f^+(v)$ holds for any two adjacent vertices $u$ and $v$, where $f^+(u) = \sum_{e\in E(u)} f(e)$ and $E(u$) is the set of edges incident to $u$. A graph $G$ is called local antimagic if $G$ admits at least a local antimagic labeling. The local antimagic chromatic number, denoted $χ_{la}(G)$, is the minimum number of induced colors taken over local antimagic labelings of $G$. Let $G$ and $H$ be two disjoint graphs. The graph $G[H]$ is obtained…
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…
We establish Guay-Paquet's unpublished linear relation between certain chromatic symmetric functions by relating his algebra on paths to the $q$-Klyachko algebra. The coefficients in this relations are $q$-hit polynomials, and they come up naturally in our setup as connected remixed Eulerian numbers, in contrast to the computational approach of Colmenarejo-Morales-Panova. As Guay-Paquet's algebra is a down-up algebra, we are able to harness algebraic results in the context of the latter and establish results of a combinatorial flavour. In particular we resolve a conjecture of Colmenarejo-Moral…
