Tree-chromatic number is not equal to path-chromatic number

For a graph $G$ and a tree-decomposition $(T, \mathcal{B})$ of $G$, the chromatic number of $(T, \mathcal{B})$ is the maximum of $\chi(G[B])$, taken over all bags $B \in \mathcal{B}$. The tree-chromatic number of $G$ is the minimum chromatic number of all tree-decompositions $(T, \mathcal{B})$ of $G$. The path-chromatic number of $G$ is defined analogously. In this paper, we introduce an operation that always increases the path-chromatic number of a graph. As an easy corollary of our construction, we obtain an infinite family of graphs whose path-chromatic number and tree-chromatic number are different. This settles a question of Seymour. Our results also imply that the path-chromatic numbers of the Mycielski graphs are unbounded.Comment: 11 pages, 0 figure

Coloring triangle-free rectangle overlap graphs with O(log⁡log⁡n)O(\log\log n) colors

Recently, it was proved that triangle-free intersection graphs of $n$ line segments in the plane can have chromatic number as large as $\Theta(\log\log n)$. Essentially the same construction produces $\Theta(\log\log n)$-chromatic triangle-free intersection graphs of a variety of other geometric shapes---those belonging to any class of compact arc-connected sets in $\mathbb{R}^2$ closed under horizontal scaling, vertical scaling, and translation, except for axis-parallel rectangles. We show that this construction is asymptotically optimal for intersection graphs of boundaries of axis-parallel rectangles, which can be alternatively described as overlap graphs of axis-parallel rectangles. That is, we prove that triangle-free rectangle overlap graphs have chromatic number $O(\log\log n)$, improving on the previous bound of $O(\log n)$. To this end, we exploit a relationship between off-line coloring of rectangle overlap graphs and on-line coloring of interval overlap graphs. Our coloring method decomposes the graph into a bounded number of subgraphs with a tree-like structure that "encodes" strategies of the adversary in the on-line coloring problem. Then, these subgraphs are colored with $O(\log\log n)$ colors using a combination of techniques from on-line algorithms (first-fit) and data structure design (heavy-light decomposition).Comment: Minor revisio

On distinguishing trees by their chromatic symmetric functions

Let $T$ be an unrooted tree. The \emph{chromatic symmetric function} $X_T$, introduced by Stanley, is a sum of monomial symmetric functions corresponding to proper colorings of $T$. The \emph{subtree polynomial} $S_T$, first considered under a different name by Chaudhary and Gordon, is the bivariate generating function for subtrees of $T$ by their numbers of edges and leaves. We prove that $S_T =$, where $$ is the Hall inner product on symmetric functions and $\Phi$ is a certain symmetric function that does not depend on $T$. Thus the chromatic symmetric function is a stronger isomorphism invariant than the subtree polynomial. As a corollary, the path and degree sequences of a tree can be obtained from its chromatic symmetric function. As another application, we exhibit two infinite families of trees (\emph{spiders} and some \emph{caterpillars}), and one family of unicyclic graphs (\emph{squids}) whose members are determined completely by their chromatic symmetric functions.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures. Added references [2], [13], and [15

Local convergence of random graph colorings

Let $G=G(n,m)$ be a random graph whose average degree $d=2m/n$ is below the $k$-colorability threshold. If we sample a $k$-coloring $\sigma$ of $G$ uniformly at random, what can we say about the correlations between the colors assigned to vertices that are far apart? According to a prediction from statistical physics, for average degrees below the so-called {\em condensation threshold} $d_c(k)$, the colors assigned to far away vertices are asymptotically independent [Krzakala et al.: Proc. National Academy of Sciences 2007]. We prove this conjecture for $k$ exceeding a certain constant $k_0$. More generally, we investigate the joint distribution of the $k$-colorings that $\sigma$ induces locally on the bounded-depth neighborhoods of any fixed number of vertices. In addition, we point out an implication on the reconstruction problem