Acyclic edge coloring of graphs

An {\em acyclic edge coloring} of a graph $G$ is a proper edge coloring such that the subgraph induced by any two color classes is a linear forest (an acyclic graph with maximum degree at most two). The {\em acyclic chromatic index} \chiup_{a}'(G) of a graph $G$ is the least number of colors needed in an acyclic edge coloring of $G$. Fiam\v{c}\'{i}k (1978) conjectured that \chiup_{a}'(G) \leq \Delta(G) + 2, where $\Delta(G)$ is the maximum degree of $G$. This conjecture is well known as Acyclic Edge Coloring Conjecture (AECC). A graph $G$ with maximum degree at most $\kappa$ is {\em $\kappa$-deletion-minimal} if \chiup_{a}'(G) > \kappa and \chiup_{a}'(H) \leq \kappa for every proper subgraph $H$ of $G$. The purpose of this paper is to provide many structural lemmas on $\kappa$-deletion-minimal graphs. By using the structural lemmas, we firstly prove that AECC is true for the graphs with maximum average degree less than four (\autoref{NMAD4}). We secondly prove that AECC is true for the planar graphs without triangles adjacent to cycles of length at most four, with an additional condition that every $5$-cycle has at most three edges contained in triangles (\autoref{NoAdjacent}), from which we can conclude some known results as corollaries. We thirdly prove that every planar graph $G$ without intersecting triangles satisfies \chiup_{a}'(G) \leq \Delta(G) + 3 (\autoref{NoIntersect}). Finally, we consider one extreme case and prove it: if $G$ is a graph with $\Delta(G) \geq 3$ and all the $3^{+}$-vertices are independent, then \chiup_{a}'(G) = \Delta(G). We hope the structural lemmas will shed some light on the acyclic edge coloring problems.Comment: 19 page

On (n,m)(n,m)-chromatic numbers of graphs having bounded sparsity parameters

An $(n,m)$-graph is characterised by having $n$ types of arcs and $m$ types of edges. A homomorphism of an $(n,m)$-graph $G$ to an $(n,m)$-graph $H$, is a vertex mapping that preserves adjacency, direction, and type. The $(n,m)$-chromatic number of $G$, denoted by $\chi_{n,m}(G)$, is the minimum value of $|V(H)|$ such that there exists a homomorphism of $G$ to $H$. The theory of homomorphisms of $(n,m)$-graphs have connections with graph theoretic concepts like harmonious coloring, nowhere-zero flows; with other mathematical topics like binary predicate logic, Coxeter groups; and has application to the Query Evaluation Problem (QEP) in graph database. In this article, we show that the arboricity of $G$ is bounded by a function of $\chi_{n,m}(G)$ but not the other way around. Additionally, we show that the acyclic chromatic number of $G$ is bounded by a function of $\chi_{n,m}(G)$, a result already known in the reverse direction. Furthermore, we prove that the $(n,m)$-chromatic number for the family of graphs with a maximum average degree less than $2+ \frac{2}{4(2n+m)-1}$, including the subfamily of planar graphs with girth at least $8(2n+m)$, equals $2(2n+m)+1$. This improves upon previous findings, which proved the $(n,m)$-chromatic number for planar graphs with girth at least $10(2n+m)-4$ is $2(2n+m)+1$. It is established that the $(n,m)$-chromatic number for the family $\mathcal{T}_2$ of partial $2$-trees is both bounded below and above by quadratic functions of $(2n+m)$, with the lower bound being tight when $(2n+m)=2$. We prove $14 \leq \chi_{(0,3)}(\mathcal{T}_2) \leq 15$ and $14 \leq \chi_{(1,1)}(\mathcal{T}_2) \leq 21$ which improves both known lower bounds and the former upper bound. Moreover, for the latter upper bound, to the best of our knowledge we provide the first theoretical proof.Comment: 18 page

Star Colouring of Bounded Degree Graphs and Regular Graphs

A $k$-star colouring of a graph $G$ is a function $f:V(G)\to\{0,1,\dots,k-1\}$ such that $f(u)\neq f(v)$ for every edge $uv$ of $G$, and every bicoloured connected subgraph of $G$ is a star. The star chromatic number of $G$, $\chi_s(G)$, is the least integer $k$ such that $G$ is $k$-star colourable. We prove that $\chi_s(G)\geq \lceil (d+4)/2\rceil$ for every $d$-regular graph $G$ with $d\geq 3$. We reveal the structure and properties of even-degree regular graphs $G$ that attain this lower bound. The structure of such graphs $G$ is linked with a certain type of Eulerian orientations of $G$. Moreover, this structure can be expressed in the LC-VSP framework of Telle and Proskurowski (SIDMA, 1997), and hence can be tested by an FPT algorithm with the parameter either treewidth, cliquewidth, or rankwidth. We prove that for $p\geq 2$, a $2p$-regular graph $G$ is $(p+2)$-star colourable only if $n:=|V(G)|$ is divisible by $(p+1)(p+2)$. For each $p\geq 2$ and $n$ divisible by $(p+1)(p+2)$, we construct a $2p$-regular Hamiltonian graph on $n$ vertices which is $(p+2)$-star colourable. The problem $k$-STAR COLOURABILITY takes a graph $G$ as input and asks whether $G$ is $k$-star colourable. We prove that 3-STAR COLOURABILITY is NP-complete for planar bipartite graphs of maximum degree three and arbitrarily large girth. Besides, it is coNP-hard to test whether a bipartite graph of maximum degree eight has a unique 3-star colouring up to colour swaps. For $k\geq 3$, $k$-STAR COLOURABILITY of bipartite graphs of maximum degree $k$ is NP-complete, and does not even admit a $2^{o(n)}$-time algorithm unless ETH fails

Chromatic roots are dense in the whole complex plane

I show that the zeros of the chromatic polynomials P-G(q) for the generalized theta graphs Theta((s.p)) are taken together, dense in the whole complex plane with the possible exception of the disc \q - l\ < l. The same holds for their dichromatic polynomials (alias Tutte polynomials, alias Potts-model partition functions) Z(G)(q,upsilon) outside the disc \q + upsilon\ < \upsilon\. An immediate corollary is that the chromatic roots of not-necessarily-planar graphs are dense in the whole complex plane. The main technical tool in the proof of these results is the Beraha-Kahane-Weiss theorem oil the limit sets of zeros for certain sequences of analytic functions, for which I give a new and simpler proof