146 research outputs found
Minimum Sum Edge Colorings of Multicycles
In the minimum sum edge coloring problem, we aim to assign natural numbers to
edges of a graph, so that adjacent edges receive different numbers, and the sum
of the numbers assigned to the edges is minimum. The {\em chromatic edge
strength} of a graph is the minimum number of colors required in a minimum sum
edge coloring of this graph. We study the case of multicycles, defined as
cycles with parallel edges, and give a closed-form expression for the chromatic
edge strength of a multicycle, thereby extending a theorem due to Berge. It is
shown that the minimum sum can be achieved with a number of colors equal to the
chromatic index. We also propose simple algorithms for finding a minimum sum
edge coloring of a multicycle. Finally, these results are generalized to a
large family of minimum cost coloring problems
Proof of the Goldberg-Seymour Conjecture on Edge-Colorings of Multigraphs
Given a multigraph , the {\em edge-coloring problem} (ECP) is to
color the edges of with the minimum number of colors so that no two
adjacent edges have the same color. This problem can be naturally formulated as
an integer program, and its linear programming relaxation is called the {\em
fractional edge-coloring problem} (FECP). In the literature, the optimal value
of ECP (resp. FECP) is called the {\em chromatic index} (resp. {\em fractional
chromatic index}) of , denoted by (resp. ). Let
be the maximum degree of and let where is the set of all edges of with
both ends in . Clearly, is
a lower bound for . As shown by Seymour, . In the 1970s Goldberg and Seymour independently conjectured
that . Over the
past four decades this conjecture, a cornerstone in modern edge-coloring, has
been a subject of extensive research, and has stimulated a significant body of
work. In this paper we present a proof of this conjecture. Our result implies
that, first, there are only two possible values for , so an analogue
to Vizing's theorem on edge-colorings of simple graphs, a fundamental result in
graph theory, holds for multigraphs; second, although it is -hard in
general to determine , we can approximate it within one of its true
value, and find it exactly in polynomial time when ;
third, every multigraph satisfies , so FECP has a
fascinating integer rounding property
Colorful Strips
Given a planar point set and an integer , we wish to color the points with
colors so that any axis-aligned strip containing enough points contains all
colors. The goal is to bound the necessary size of such a strip, as a function
of . We show that if the strip size is at least , such a coloring
can always be found. We prove that the size of the strip is also bounded in any
fixed number of dimensions. In contrast to the planar case, we show that
deciding whether a 3D point set can be 2-colored so that any strip containing
at least three points contains both colors is NP-complete.
We also consider the problem of coloring a given set of axis-aligned strips,
so that any sufficiently covered point in the plane is covered by colors.
We show that in dimensions the required coverage is at most .
Lower bounds are given for the two problems. This complements recent
impossibility results on decomposition of strip coverings with arbitrary
orientations. Finally, we study a variant where strips are replaced by wedges
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