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

Acyclic Subgraphs of Planar Digraphs

An acyclic set in a digraph is a set of vertices that induces an acyclic subgraph. In 2011, Harutyunyan conjectured that every planar digraph on $n$ vertices without directed 2-cycles possesses an acyclic set of size at least $3n/5$. We prove this conjecture for digraphs where every directed cycle has length at least 8. More generally, if $g$ is the length of the shortest directed cycle, we show that there exists an acyclic set of size at least $(1 - 3/g)n$.Comment: 9 page

Complete Acyclic Colorings

We study two parameters that arise from the dichromatic number and the vertex-arboricity in the same way that the achromatic number comes from the chromatic number. The adichromatic number of a digraph is the largest number of colors its vertices can be colored with such that every color induces an acyclic subdigraph but merging any two colors yields a monochromatic directed cycle. Similarly, the a-vertex arboricity of an undirected graph is the largest number of colors that can be used such that every color induces a forest but merging any two yields a monochromatic cycle. We study the relation between these parameters and their behavior with respect to other classical parameters such as degeneracy and most importantly feedback vertex sets.Comment: 17 pages, no figure

A Victorian Age Proof of the Four Color Theorem

In this paper we have investigated some old issues concerning four color map problem. We have given a general method for constructing counter-examples to Kempe's proof of the four color theorem and then show that all counterexamples can be rule out by re-constructing special 2-colored two paths decomposition in the form of a double-spiral chain of the maximal planar graph. In the second part of the paper we have given an algorithmic proof of the four color theorem which is based only on the coloring faces (regions) of a cubic planar maps. Our algorithmic proof has been given in three steps. The first two steps are the maximal mono-chromatic and then maximal dichromatic coloring of the faces in such a way that the resulting uncolored (white) regions of the incomplete two-colored map induce no odd-cycles so that in the (final) third step four coloring of the map has been obtained almost trivially.Comment: 27 pages, 18 figures, revised versio

Structural properties of 1-planar graphs and an application to acyclic edge coloring

A graph is called 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 establish a local property of 1-planar graphs which describes the structure in the neighborhood of small vertices (i.e. vertices of degree no more than seven). Meanwhile, some new classes of light graphs in 1-planar graphs with the bounded degree are found. Therefore, two open problems presented by Fabrici and Madaras [The structure of 1-planar graphs, Discrete Mathematics, 307, (2007), 854-865] are solved. Furthermore, we prove that each 1-planar graph $G$ with maximum degree $\Delta(G)$ is acyclically edge $L$-choosable where $L=\max\{2\Delta(G)-2,\Delta(G)+83\}$.Comment: Please cite this published article as: X. Zhang, G. Liu, J.-L. Wu. Structural properties of 1-planar graphs and an application to acyclic edge coloring. Scientia Sinica Mathematica, 2010, 40, 1025--103

On vertex coloring without monochromatic triangles

We study a certain relaxation of the classic vertex coloring problem, namely, a coloring of vertices of undirected, simple graphs, such that there are no monochromatic triangles. We give the first classification of the problem in terms of classic and parametrized algorithms. Several computational complexity results are also presented, which improve on the previous results found in the literature. We propose the new structural parameter for undirected, simple graphs -- the triangle-free chromatic number $\chi_3$. We bound $\chi_3$ by other known structural parameters. We also present two classes of graphs with interesting coloring properties, that play pivotal role in proving useful observation about our problem. We give/ask several conjectures/questions throughout this paper to encourage new research in the area of graph coloring.Comment: Extended abstrac