Extremal \u3cem\u3eH\u3c/em\u3e-Colorings of Trees and 2-connected Graphs

For graphs G and H, an H-coloring of G is an adjacency preserving map from the vertices of G to the vertices of H. H-colorings generalize such notions as independent sets and proper colorings in graphs. There has been much recent research on the extremal question of finding the graph(s) among a fixed family that maximize or minimize the number of H-colorings. In this paper, we prove several results in this area. First, we find a class of graphs H with the property that for each H∈H, the n-vertex tree that minimizes the number of H -colorings is the path Pn. We then present a new proof of a theorem of Sidorenko, valid for large n, that for every H the star K1,n−1 is the n-vertex tree that maximizes the number of H-colorings. Our proof uses a stability technique which we also use to show that for any non-regular H (and certain regular H ) the complete bipartite graph K2,n−2 maximizes the number of H-colorings of n -vertex 2-connected graphs. Finally, we show that the cycle Cn has the most proper q-colorings among all n-vertex 2-connected graphs

Extremal Colorings and Independent Sets

We consider several extremal problems of maximizing the number of colorings and independent sets in some graph families with fixed chromatic number and order. First, we address the problem of maximizing the number of colorings in the family of connected graphs with chromatic number k and order n where k≥4 role= presentation style= box-sizing: inherit; display: inline; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 0px; text-align: left; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; position: relative; \u3ek≥4k≥4. It was conjectured that extremal graphs are those which have clique number k and size (k2)+n−k role= presentation style= box-sizing: inherit; display: inline; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 0px; text-align: left; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; position: relative; \u3e(k2)+n−k(k2)+n−k. We affirm this conjecture for 4-chromatic claw-free graphs and for all k-chromatic line graphs with k≥4 role= presentation style= box-sizing: inherit; display: inline; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 0px; text-align: left; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; position: relative; \u3ek≥4k≥4. We also reduce this extremal problem to a finite family of graphs when restricted to claw-free graphs. Secondly, we determine the maximum number of independent sets of each size in the family of n-vertex k-chromatic graphs (respectively connected n-vertex k-chromatic graphs and n-vertex k-chromatic graphs with c components). We show that the unique extremal graph is Kk∪En−k role= presentation style= box-sizing: inherit; display: inline; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 0px; text-align: left; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; position: relative; \u3eKk∪En−kKk∪En−k, K1∨(Kk−1∪En−k) role= presentation style= box-sizing: inherit; display: inline; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 0px; text-align: left; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; position: relative; \u3eK1∨(Kk−1∪En−k)K1∨(Kk−1∪En−k) and (K1∨(Kk−1∪En−k−c+1))∪Ec−1 role= presentation style= box-sizing: inherit; display: inline; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size: 18px; text-indent: 0px; text-align: left; text-transform: none; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; position: relative; \u3e(K1∨(Kk−1∪En−k−c+1))∪Ec−1(K1∨(Kk−1∪En−k−c+1))∪Ec−1 respectively

Sidorenko's conjecture, colorings and independent sets

Let $\hom(H,G)$ denote the number of homomorphisms from a graph $H$ to a graph $G$. Sidorenko's conjecture asserts that for any bipartite graph $H$, and a graph $G$ we have $$\hom(H,G)\geq v(G)^{v(H)}\left(\frac{\hom(K_2,G)}{v(G)^2}\right)^{e(H)},$$ where $v(H),v(G)$ and $e(H),e(G)$ denote the number of vertices and edges of the graph $H$ and $G$, respectively. In this paper we prove Sidorenko's conjecture for certain special graphs $G$: for the complete graph $K_q$ on $q$ vertices, for a $K_2$ with a loop added at one of the end vertices, and for a path on $3$ vertices with a loop added at each vertex. These cases correspond to counting colorings, independent sets and Widom-Rowlinson colorings of a graph $H$. For instance, for a bipartite graph $H$ the number of $q$-colorings $\textrm{ch}(H,q)$ satisfies $$\textrm{ch}(H,q)\geq q^{v(H)}\left(\frac{q-1}{q}\right)^{e(H)}.$$ In fact, we will prove that in the last two cases (independent sets and Widom-Rowlinson colorings) the graph $H$ does not need to be bipartite. In all cases, we first prove a certain correlation inequality which implies Sidorenko's conjecture in a stronger form.Comment: Two references added and Remark 2.1 is expande

Grad and classes with bounded expansion I. decompositions

We introduce classes of graphs with bounded expansion as a generalization of both proper minor closed classes and degree bounded classes. Such classes are based on a new invariant, the greatest reduced average density (grad) of G with rank r, grad r(G). For these classes we prove the existence of several partition results such as the existence of low tree-width and low tree-depth colorings. This generalizes and simplifies several earlier results (obtained for minor closed classes)