Nonrepetitive colorings of lexicographic product of graphs

A coloring $c$ of the vertices of a graph $G$ is nonrepetitive if there exists no path $v_1v_2\ldots v_{2l}$ for which $c(v_i)=c(v_{l+i})$ for all $1\le i\le l$. Given graphs $G$ and $H$ with $|V(H)|=k$, the lexicographic product $G[H]$ is the graph obtained by substituting every vertex of $G$ by a copy of $H$, and every edge of $G$ by a copy of $K_{k,k}$. %Our main results are the following. We prove that for a sufficiently long path $P$, a nonrepetitive coloring of $P[K_k]$ needs at least $3k+\lfloor k/2\rfloor$ colors. If $k>2$ then we need exactly $2k+1$ colors to nonrepetitively color $P[E_k]$, where $E_k$ is the empty graph on $k$ vertices. If we further require that every copy of $E_k$ be rainbow-colored and the path $P$ is sufficiently long, then the smallest number of colors needed for $P[E_k]$ is at least $3k+1$ and at most $3k+\lceil k/2\rceil$. Finally, we define fractional nonrepetitive colorings of graphs and consider the connections between this notion and the above results

Nonrepetitive colorings of lexicographic product of paths and other graphs

A coloring $c$ of the vertices of a graph $G$ is nonrepetitive if there exists no path $v_1v_2\ldots v_{2l}$ for which $c(v_i)=c(v_{l+i})$ for all $1\le i\le l$. Given graphs $G$ and $H$ with $|V(H)|=k$, the lexicographic product $G[H]$ is the graph obtained by substituting every vertex of $G$ by a copy of $H$, and every edge of $G$ by a copy of $K_{k,k}$. We prove that for a sufficiently long path $P$, a nonrepetitive coloring of $P[K_k]$ needs at least $3k+\lfloor k/2\rfloor$ colors. If $k>2$ then we need exactly $2k+1$ colors to nonrepetitively color $P[E_k]$, where $E_k$ is the empty graph on $k$ vertices. If we further require that every copy of $E_k$ be rainbow-colored and the path $P$ is sufficiently long, then the smallest number of colors needed for $P[E_k]$ is at least $3k+1$ and at most $3k+\lceil k/2\rceil$. Finally, we define fractional nonrepetitive colorings of graphs and consider the connections between this notion and the above results

A note on the Thue chromatic number of lexicographic products of graphs

A sequence is called non-repetitive if none of its subsequences forms a repetition (a sequence r1r2 · · · r2n such that ri = rn+i for all 1 ≤ i ≤ n). Let G be a graph whose vertices are coloured. A colouring ϕ of the graph G is non-repetitive if the sequence of colours on every path in G is non-repetitive. The Thue chromatic number, denoted by π(G), is the minimum number of colours of a non-repetitive colouring of G

Planar graphs have bounded nonrepetitive chromatic number

A colouring of a graph isnonrepetitiveif for every path of even order, thesequence of colours on the first half of the path is different from the sequence of colours onthe second half. We show that planar graphs have nonrepetitive colourings with a boundednumber of colours, thus proving a conjecture of Alon, Grytczuk, Hałuszczak and Riordan(2002). We also generalise this result for graphs of bounded Euler genus, graphs excluding afixed minor, and graphs excluding a fixed topological minor