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 list edge coloring of outerplanar graphs

AbstractAn acyclic list edge coloring of a graph G is a proper list edge coloring such that no bichromatic cycles are produced. In this paper, we prove that an outerplanar graph G with maximum degree Δ≥5 has the acyclic list edge chromatic number equal to Δ

Equitable partition of planar graphs

An equitable $k$-partition of a graph $G$ is a collection of induced subgraphs $(G[V_1],G[V_2],\ldots,G[V_k])$ of $G$ such that $(V_1,V_2,\ldots,V_k)$ is a partition of $V(G)$ and $-1\le |V_i|-|V_j|\le 1$ for all $1\le i<j\le k$. We prove that every planar graph admits an equitable $2$-partition into $3$-degenerate graphs, an equitable $3$-partition into $2$-degenerate graphs, and an equitable $3$-partition into two forests and one graph.Comment: 12 pages; revised; accepted to Discrete Mat