On Colorings of Graph Powers

In this paper, some results concerning the colorings of graph powers are presented. The notion of helical graphs is introduced. We show that such graphs are hom-universal with respect to high odd-girth graphs whose $(2t+1)$st power is bounded by a Kneser graph. Also, we consider the problem of existence of homomorphism to odd cycles. We prove that such homomorphism to a $(2k+1)$-cycle exists if and only if the chromatic number of the $(2k+1)$st power of $S_2(G)$ is less than or equal to 3, where $S_2(G)$ is the 2-subdivision of $G$. We also consider Ne\v{s}et\v{r}il's Pentagon problem. This problem is about the existence of high girth cubic graphs which are not homomorphic to the cycle of size five. Several problems which are closely related to Ne\v{s}et\v{r}il's problem are introduced and their relations are presented

An approximability-related parameter on graphs―-properties and applications

Graph TheoryInternational audienceWe introduce a binary parameter on optimisation problems called separation. The parameter is used to relate the approximation ratios of different optimisation problems; in other words, we can convert approximability (and non-approximability) result for one problem into (non)-approximability results for other problems. Our main application is the problem (weighted) maximum H-colourable subgraph (Max H-Col), which is a restriction of the general maximum constraint satisfaction problem (Max CSP) to a single, binary, and symmetric relation. Using known approximation ratios for Max k-cut, we obtain general asymptotic approximability results for Max H-Col for an arbitrary graph H. For several classes of graphs, we provide near-optimal results under the unique games conjecture. We also investigate separation as a graph parameter. In this vein, we study its properties on circular complete graphs. Furthermore, we establish a close connection to work by Šámal on cubical colourings of graphs. This connection shows that our parameter is closely related to a special type of chromatic number. We believe that this insight may turn out to be crucial for understanding the behaviour of the parameter, and in the longer term, for understanding the approximability of optimisation problems such as Max H-Col

Density of 33-critical signed graphs

We say that a signed graph is $k$-critical if it is not $k$-colorable but every one of its proper subgraphs is $k$-colorable. Using the definition of colorability due to Naserasr, Wang, and Zhu that extends the notion of circular colorability, we prove that every $3$-critical signed graph on $n$ vertices has at least $\frac{3n-1}{2}$ edges, and that this bound is asymptotically tight. It follows that every signed planar or projective-planar graph of girth at least $6$ is (circular) $3$-colorable, and for the projective-planar case, this girth condition is best possible. To prove our main result, we reformulate it in terms of the existence of a homomorphism to the signed graph $C_{3}^*$, which is the positive triangle augmented with a negative loop on each vertex.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figure