Computing Minimum Rainbow and Strong Rainbow Colorings of Block Graphs

A path in an edge-colored graph $G$ is rainbow if no two edges of it are colored the same. The graph $G$ is rainbow-connected if there is a rainbow path between every pair of vertices. If there is a rainbow shortest path between every pair of vertices, the graph $G$ is strongly rainbow-connected. The minimum number of colors needed to make $G$ rainbow-connected is known as the rainbow connection number of $G$, and is denoted by $\text{rc}(G)$. Similarly, the minimum number of colors needed to make $G$ strongly rainbow-connected is known as the strong rainbow connection number of $G$, and is denoted by $\text{src}(G)$. We prove that for every $k \geq 3$, deciding whether $\text{src}(G) \leq k$ is NP-complete for split graphs, which form a subclass of chordal graphs. Furthermore, there exists no polynomial-time algorithm for approximating the strong rainbow connection number of an $n$-vertex split graph with a factor of $n^{1/2-\epsilon}$ for any $\epsilon > 0$ unless P = NP. We then turn our attention to block graphs, which also form a subclass of chordal graphs. We determine the strong rainbow connection number of block graphs, and show it can be computed in linear time. Finally, we provide a polynomial-time characterization of bridgeless block graphs with rainbow connection number at most 4.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

The anti-Ramsey threshold of complete graphs

For graphs $G$ and $H$, let G {\displaystyle\smash{\begin{subarray}{c} \hbox{\tiny\rm rb} \\ \longrightarrow \\ \hbox{\tiny\rm p} \end{subarray}}}H denote the property that for every proper edge-colouring of $G$ there is a rainbow $H$ in $G$. It is known that, for every graph $H$, an asymptotic upper bound for the threshold function $p^{\rm rb}_H=p^{\rm rb}_H(n)$ of this property for the random graph $G(n,p)$ is $n^{-1/m^{(2)}(H)}$, where $m^{(2)}(H)$ denotes the so-called maximum $2$-density of $H$. Extending a result of Nenadov, Person, \v{S}kori\'c, and Steger [J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 124 (2017),1-38] we prove a matching lower bound for $p^{\rm rb}_{K_k}$ for $k\geq 5$. Furthermore, we show that $p^{\rm rb}_{K_4} = n^{-7/15}$.Comment: 19 page

Extremal properties of flood-filling games

The problem of determining the number of "flooding operations" required to make a given coloured graph monochromatic in the one-player combinatorial game Flood-It has been studied extensively from an algorithmic point of view, but basic questions about the maximum number of moves that might be required in the worst case remain unanswered. We begin a systematic investigation of such questions, with the goal of determining, for a given graph, the maximum number of moves that may be required, taken over all possible colourings. We give several upper and lower bounds on this quantity for arbitrary graphs and show that all of the bounds are tight for trees; we also investigate how much the upper bounds can be improved if we restrict our attention to graphs with higher edge-density.Comment: Final version, accepted to DMTC