On uniquely list colorable graphs

Let G be a graph with n vertices and suppose that for each vertex v in G, there exists a list of k colors L(v), such that there is a unique proper coloring for G from this collection of lists, then G is called a uniquely k-list colorable graph. Recently M. Mahdian and E.S. Mahmoodian characterized uniquely 2-list colorable graphs. Here we state some results which will pave the way in characterization of uniquely k-list colorable graphs. There is a relationship between this concept and defining sets in graph colorings and critical sets in latin squares.Comment: 13 page

Uniquely 2-List Colorable Graphs

A graph is called to be uniquely list colorable, if it admits a list assignment which induces a unique list coloring. We study uniquely list colorable graphs with a restriction on the number of colors used. In this way we generalize a theorem which characterizes uniquely 2-list colorable graphs. We introduce the uniquely list chromatic number of a graph and make a conjecture about it which is a generalization of the well known Brooks' theorem

On uniquely k-list colorable planar graphs, graphs on surfaces, and regular graphs

A graph $G$ is called uniquely k-list colorable (U$k$LC) if there exists a list of colors on its vertices, say $L=\lbrace S_v \mid v \in V(G) \rbrace$, each of size $k$, such that there is a unique proper list coloring of $G$ from this list of colors. A graph $G$ is said to have property $M(k)$ if it is not uniquely $k$-list colorable. Mahmoodian and Mahdian characterized all graphs with property $M(2)$. For $k\geq 3$ property $M(k)$ has been studied only for multipartite graphs. Here we find bounds on $M(k)$ for graphs embedded on surfaces, and obtain new results on planar graphs. We begin a general study of bounds on $M(k)$ for regular graphs, as well as for graphs with varying list sizes

Some concepts in list coloring

In this paper uniquely list colorable graphs are studied. A graph G is called to be uniquely k-list colorable if it admits a k-list assignment from which G has a unique list coloring. The minimum k for which G is not uniquely k-list colorable is called the M-number of G. We show that every triangle-free uniquely vertex colorable graph with chromatic number k+1, is uniquely k-list colorable. A bound for the M-number of graphs is given, and using this bound it is shown that every planar graph has M-number at most 4. Also we introduce list criticality in graphs and characterize all 3-list critical graphs. It is conjectured that every $\chi_\ell$-critical graph is $\chi'$-critical and the equivalence of this conjecture to the well known list coloring conjecture is shown

On two generalizations of the Alon-Tarsi polynomial method

In a seminal paper, Alon and Tarsi have introduced an algebraic technique for proving upper bounds on the choice number of graphs (and thus, in particular, upper bounds on their chromatic number). The upper bound on the choice number of $G$ obtained via their method, was later coined the \emph{Alon-Tarsi number of $G$} and was denoted by $AT(G)$. They have provided a combinatorial interpretation of this parameter in terms of the eulerian subdigraphs of an appropriate orientation of $G$. Their characterization can be restated as follows. Let $D$ be an orientation of $G$. Assign a weight $\omega_D(H)$ to every subdigraph $H$ of $D$: if $H \subseteq D$ is eulerian, then $\omega_D(H) = (-1)^{e(H)}$, otherwise $\omega_D(H) = 0$. Alon and Tarsi proved that $AT(G) \leq k$ if and only if there exists an orientation $D$ of $G$ in which the out-degree of every vertex is strictly less than $k$, and moreover $\sum_{H \subseteq D} \omega_D(H) \neq 0$. Shortly afterwards, for the special case of line graphs of $d$-regular $d$-edge-colorable graphs, Alon gave another interpretation of $AT(G)$, this time in terms of the signed $d$-colorings of the line graph. In this paper we generalize both results. The first characterization is generalized by showing that there is an infinite family of weight functions (which includes the one considered by Alon and Tarsi), each of which can be used to characterize $AT(G)$. The second characterization is generalized to all graphs (in fact the result is even more general -- in particular it applies to hypergraphs). We then use the second generalization to prove that $\chi(G) = ch(G) = AT(G)$ holds for certain families of graphs $G$. Some of these results generalize certain known choosability results

Combinatorial Nullstellensatz and DP-coloring of Graphs

We initiate the study of applying the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz to the DP-coloring of graphs even though, as is well-known, the Alon-Tarsi theorem does not apply to DP-coloring. We define the notion of good covers of prime order which allows us to apply the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz to DP-coloring. We apply these tools to DP-coloring of the cones of certain bipartite graphs and uniquely 3-colorable graphs. We also extend a result of Akbari, Mirrokni, and Sadjad (2006) on unique list colorability to the context of DP-coloring. We establish a sufficient algebraic condition for a graph $G$ to satisfy $\chi_{DP}(G) \leq 3$, and we completely determine the DP-chromatic number of squares of all cycles.Comment: 17 page

Critical Sets for Sudoku and General Graphs

We discuss the problem of finding critical sets in graphs, a concept which has appeared in a number of guises in the combinatorics and graph theory literature. The case of the Sudoku graph receives particular attention, because critical sets correspond to minimal fair puzzles. We define four parameters associated with the sizes of extremal critical sets and (a) prove several general results about these parameters' properties, including their computational intractability, (b) compute their values exactly for some classes of graphs, (c) obtain bounds for generalized Sudoku graphs, and (d) offer a number of open questions regarding critical sets and the aforementioned parameters

Maximal ambiguously k-colorable graphs

A graph is ambiguously k-colorable if its vertex set admits two distinct partitions each into at most k anticliques. We give a full characterization of the maximally ambiguously k-colorable graphs in terms of quadratic matrices. As an application, we calculate the maximum number of edges an ambiguously k-colorable graph can have, and characterize the extremal graphs

Conflict-Free Coloring of Intersection Graphs

A conflict-free $k$-coloring of a graph $G=(V,E)$ assigns one of $k$ different colors to some of the vertices such that, for every vertex $v$, there is a color that is assigned to exactly one vertex among $v$ and $v$'s neighbors. Such colorings have applications in wireless networking, robotics, and geometry, and are well studied in graph theory. Here we study the conflict-free coloring of geometric intersection graphs. We demonstrate that the intersection graph of $n$ geometric objects without fatness properties and size restrictions may have conflict-free chromatic number in $\Omega(\log n/\log\log n)$ and in $\Omega(\sqrt{\log n})$ for disks or squares of different sizes; it is known for general graphs that the worst case is in $\Theta(\log^2 n)$. For unit-disk intersection graphs, we prove that it is NP-complete to decide the existence of a conflict-free coloring with one color; we also show that six colors always suffice, using an algorithm that colors unit disk graphs of restricted height with two colors. We conjecture that four colors are sufficient, which we prove for unit squares instead of unit disks. For interval graphs, we establish a tight worst-case bound of two.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures; full version of extended abstract that is to appear in ISAAC 201

Coloring Distance Graphs on the Integers

Given a set D of positive integers, the associated distance graph on the integers is the graph with the integers as vertices and an edge between distinct vertices if their difference lies in D. We investigate the chromatic numbers of distance graphs. We show that, if $D = {d_1,d_2,d_3,...}$, with $d_n | d_{n+1}$ for all n, then the distance graph has a proper 4-coloring. We further find the exact chromatic numbers of all such distance graphs. Next, we characterize those distance graphs that have periodic proper colorings and show a relationship between the chromatic number and the existence of periodic proper colorings.Comment: 12 pages, no figure