Clustering powers of sparse graphs

We prove that if $G$ is a sparse graph --- it belongs to a fixed class of bounded expansion $\mathcal{C}$ --- and $d\in \mathbb{N}$ is fixed, then the $d$th power of $G$ can be partitioned into cliques so that contracting each of these clique to a single vertex again yields a sparse graph. This result has several graph-theoretic and algorithmic consequences for powers of sparse graphs, including bounds on their subchromatic number and efficient approximation algorithms for the chromatic number and the clique number.Comment: 14 page

From χ\chi- to χp\chi_p-bounded classes

$\chi$-bounded classes are studied here in the context of star colorings and more generally $\chi_p$-colorings. This leads to natural extensions of the notion of bounded expansion class and to structural characterization of these. In this paper we solve two conjectures related to star coloring boundedness. One of the conjectures is disproved and in fact we determine which weakening holds true. We give structural characterizations of (strong and weak) $\chi_p$-bounded classes. On the way, we generalize a result of Wood relating the chromatic number of a graph to the star chromatic number of its $1$-subdivision. As an application of our characterizations, among other things, we show that for every odd integer $g>3$ even hole-free graphs $G$ contain at most $\varphi(g,\omega(G))\,|G|$ holes of length $g$.Comment: To the memory of Robin Thoma

Erd\H{o}s-Hajnal properties for powers of sparse graphs

We prove that for every nowhere dense class of graphs $\mathcal{C}$, positive integer $d$, and $\varepsilon>0$, the following holds: in every $n$-vertex graph $G$ from $\mathcal{C}$ one can find two disjoint vertex subsets $A,B\subseteq V(G)$ such that $|A|\geq (1/2-\varepsilon)\cdot n$ and $|B|=\Omega(n^{1-\varepsilon})$ and either $\operatorname{dist}(a,b)\leq d$ for all $a\in A$ and $b\in B$, or $\operatorname{dist}(a,b)>d$ for all $a\in A$ and $b\in B$. We also show some stronger variants of this statement, including a generalization to the setting of First-Order interpretations of nowhere dense graph classes