Bipartite induced density in triangle-free graphs

We prove that any triangle-free graph on $n$ vertices with minimum degree at least $d$ contains a bipartite induced subgraph of minimum degree at least $d^2/(2n)$. This is sharp up to a logarithmic factor in $n$. Relatedly, we show that the fractional chromatic number of any such triangle-free graph is at most the minimum of $n/d$ and $(2+o(1))\sqrt{n/\log n}$ as $n\to\infty$. This is sharp up to constant factors. Similarly, we show that the list chromatic number of any such triangle-free graph is at most $O(\min\{\sqrt{n},(n\log n)/d\})$ as $n\to\infty$. Relatedly, we also make two conjectures. First, any triangle-free graph on $n$ vertices has fractional chromatic number at most $(\sqrt{2}+o(1))\sqrt{n/\log n}$ as $n\to\infty$. Second, any triangle-free graph on $n$ vertices has list chromatic number at most $O(\sqrt{n/\log n})$ as $n\to\infty$.Comment: 20 pages; in v2 added note of concurrent work and one reference; in v3 added more notes of ensuing work and a result towards one of the conjectures (for list colouring

On-line list colouring of random graphs

In this paper, the on-line list colouring of binomial random graphs G(n,p) is studied. We show that the on-line choice number of G(n,p) is asymptotically almost surely asymptotic to the chromatic number of G(n,p), provided that the average degree d=p(n-1) tends to infinity faster than (log log n)^1/3(log n)^2n^(2/3). For sparser graphs, we are slightly less successful; we show that if d>(log n)^(2+epsilon) for some epsilon>0, then the on-line choice number is larger than the chromatic number by at most a multiplicative factor of C, where C in [2,4], depending on the range of d. Also, for d=O(1), the on-line choice number is by at most a multiplicative constant factor larger than the chromatic number

A Reference Interpreter for the Graph Programming Language GP 2

GP 2 is an experimental programming language for computing by graph transformation. An initial interpreter for GP 2, written in the functional language Haskell, provides a concise and simply structured reference implementation. Despite its simplicity, the performance of the interpreter is sufficient for the comparative investigation of a range of test programs. It also provides a platform for the development of more sophisticated implementations.Comment: In Proceedings GaM 2015, arXiv:1504.0244

Defective and Clustered Graph Colouring

Consider the following two ways to colour the vertices of a graph where the requirement that adjacent vertices get distinct colours is relaxed. A colouring has "defect" $d$ if each monochromatic component has maximum degree at most $d$. A colouring has "clustering" $c$ if each monochromatic component has at most $c$ vertices. This paper surveys research on these types of colourings, where the first priority is to minimise the number of colours, with small defect or small clustering as a secondary goal. List colouring variants are also considered. The following graph classes are studied: outerplanar graphs, planar graphs, graphs embeddable in surfaces, graphs with given maximum degree, graphs with given maximum average degree, graphs excluding a given subgraph, graphs with linear crossing number, linklessly or knotlessly embeddable graphs, graphs with given Colin de Verdi\`ere parameter, graphs with given circumference, graphs excluding a fixed graph as an immersion, graphs with given thickness, graphs with given stack- or queue-number, graphs excluding $K_t$ as a minor, graphs excluding $K_{s,t}$ as a minor, and graphs excluding an arbitrary graph $H$ as a minor. Several open problems are discussed.Comment: This is a preliminary version of a dynamic survey to be published in the Electronic Journal of Combinatoric

The Complexity of Surjective Homomorphism Problems -- a Survey

We survey known results about the complexity of surjective homomorphism problems, studied in the context of related problems in the literature such as list homomorphism, retraction and compaction. In comparison with these problems, surjective homomorphism problems seem to be harder to classify and we examine especially three concrete problems that have arisen from the literature, two of which remain of open complexity

Distance colouring without one cycle length

We consider distance colourings in graphs of maximum degree at most $d$ and how excluding one fixed cycle length $\ell$ affects the number of colours required as $d\to\infty$. For vertex-colouring and $t\ge 1$, if any two distinct vertices connected by a path of at most $t$ edges are required to be coloured differently, then a reduction by a logarithmic (in $d$) factor against the trivial bound $O(d^t)$ can be obtained by excluding an odd cycle length $\ell \ge 3t$ if $t$ is odd or by excluding an even cycle length $\ell \ge 2t+2$. For edge-colouring and $t\ge 2$, if any two distinct edges connected by a path of fewer than $t$ edges are required to be coloured differently, then excluding an even cycle length $\ell \ge 2t$ is sufficient for a logarithmic factor reduction. For $t\ge 2$, neither of the above statements are possible for other parity combinations of $\ell$ and $t$. These results can be considered extensions of results due to Johansson (1996) and Mahdian (2000), and are related to open problems of Alon and Mohar (2002) and Kaiser and Kang (2014).Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur