On hamiltonian colorings of block graphs

A hamiltonian coloring c of a graph G of order p is an assignment of colors to the vertices of G such that $D(u,v)+|c(u)-c(v)|\geq p-1$ for every two distinct vertices u and v of G, where D(u,v) denoted the detour distance between u and v. The value hc(c) of a hamiltonian coloring c is the maximum color assigned to a vertex of G. The hamiltonian chromatic number, denoted by hc(G), is the min{hc(c)} taken over all hamiltonian coloring c of G. In this paper, we present a lower bound for the hamiltonian chromatic number of block graphs and give a sufficient condition to achieve the lower bound. We characterize symmetric block graphs achieving this lower bound. We present two algorithms for optimal hamiltonian coloring of symmetric block graphs.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure. A conference version appeared in the proceedings of WALCOM 201

On graph equivalences preserved under extensions

Let R be an equivalence relation on graphs. By the strengthening of R we mean the relation R' such that graphs G and H are in the relation R' if for every graph F, the union of the graphs G and F is in the relation R with the union of the graphs H and F. We study strengthenings of equivalence relations on graphs. The most important case that we consider concerns equivalence relations defined by graph properties. We obtain results on the strengthening of equivalence relations determined by the properties such as being a k-connected graph, k-colorable, hamiltonian and planar

Enumerative properties of Ferrers graphs

We define a class of bipartite graphs that correspond naturally with Ferrers diagrams. We give expressions for the number of spanning trees, the number of Hamiltonian paths when applicable, the chromatic polynomial, and the chromatic symmetric function. We show that the linear coefficient of the chromatic polynomial is given by the excedance set statistic.Comment: 12 page

Backbone colorings for networks: tree and path backbones

We introduce and study backbone colorings, a variation on classical vertex colorings: Given a graph $G=(V,E)$ and a spanning subgraph $H$ of $G$ (the backbone of $G$), a backbone coloring for $G$ and $H$ is a proper vertex coloring $V\rightarrow \{1,2,\ldots\}$ of $G$ in which the colors assigned to adjacent vertices in $H$ differ by at least two. We study the cases where the backbone is either a spanning tree or a spanning path

A Victorian Age Proof of the Four Color Theorem

In this paper we have investigated some old issues concerning four color map problem. We have given a general method for constructing counter-examples to Kempe's proof of the four color theorem and then show that all counterexamples can be rule out by re-constructing special 2-colored two paths decomposition in the form of a double-spiral chain of the maximal planar graph. In the second part of the paper we have given an algorithmic proof of the four color theorem which is based only on the coloring faces (regions) of a cubic planar maps. Our algorithmic proof has been given in three steps. The first two steps are the maximal mono-chromatic and then maximal dichromatic coloring of the faces in such a way that the resulting uncolored (white) regions of the incomplete two-colored map induce no odd-cycles so that in the (final) third step four coloring of the map has been obtained almost trivially.Comment: 27 pages, 18 figures, revised versio