r-tuple colorings of uniquely colorable graphs

AbstractAn r-tuple coloring of a graph is one in which r colors are assigned to each point of the graph so that the sets of colors assigned to adjacent points are always disjoint. We investigate the question of whether a uniquely n-colorable graph can receive an r-tuple coloring with fewer than nr colors. We show that this cannot happen for n=3 and r=2 and that for a given n and r to establish the conjecture that no uniquely n-colorable graph can receive an r-tuple coloring from fewer than nr colors it suffices to prove it for on a finite set of uniquely n-colorable graphs

Digraphs and homomorphisms: Cores, colorings, and constructions

A natural digraph analogue of the graph-theoretic concept of an `independent set\u27 is that of an acyclic set, namely a set of vertices not spanning a directed cycle. Hence a digraph analogue of a graph coloring is a decomposition of the vertex set into acyclic sets

Conflict-Free Coloring of Planar Graphs

A conflict-free k-coloring of a graph 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 natural problem of the conflict-free chromatic number chi_CF(G) (the smallest k for which conflict-free k-colorings exist). We provide results both for closed neighborhoods N[v], for which a vertex v is a member of its neighborhood, and for open neighborhoods N(v), for which vertex v is not a member of its neighborhood. For closed neighborhoods, we prove the conflict-free variant of the famous Hadwiger Conjecture: If an arbitrary graph G does not contain K_{k+1} as a minor, then chi_CF(G) <= k. For planar graphs, we obtain a tight worst-case bound: three colors are sometimes necessary and always sufficient. We also give a complete characterization of the computational complexity of conflict-free coloring. Deciding whether chi_CF(G)<= 1 is NP-complete for planar graphs G, but polynomial for outerplanar graphs. Furthermore, deciding whether chi_CF(G)<= 2 is NP-complete for planar graphs G, but always true for outerplanar graphs. For the bicriteria problem of minimizing the number of colored vertices subject to a given bound k on the number of colors, we give a full algorithmic characterization in terms of complexity and approximation for outerplanar and planar graphs. For open neighborhoods, we show that every planar bipartite graph has a conflict-free coloring with at most four colors; on the other hand, we prove that for k in {1,2,3}, it is NP-complete to decide whether a planar bipartite graph has a conflict-free k-coloring. Moreover, we establish that any general} planar graph has a conflict-free coloring with at most eight colors.Comment: 30 pages, 17 figures; full version (to appear in SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics) of extended abstract that appears in Proceeedings of the Twenty-Eighth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA 2017), pp. 1951-196

Random Graph Coloring - a Statistical Physics Approach

The problem of vertex coloring in random graphs is studied using methods of statistical physics and probability. Our analytical results are compared to those obtained by exact enumeration and Monte-Carlo simulations. We critically discuss the merits and shortcomings of the various methods, and interpret the results obtained. We present an exact analytical expression for the 2-coloring problem as well as general replica symmetric approximated solutions for the thermodynamics of the graph coloring problem with p colors and K-body edges.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure

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

Lower Bounds for the Graph Homomorphism Problem

The graph homomorphism problem (HOM) asks whether the vertices of a given $n$-vertex graph $G$ can be mapped to the vertices of a given $h$-vertex graph $H$ such that each edge of $G$ is mapped to an edge of $H$. The problem generalizes the graph coloring problem and at the same time can be viewed as a special case of the $2$-CSP problem. In this paper, we prove several lower bound for HOM under the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH) assumption. The main result is a lower bound $2^{\Omega\left( \frac{n \log h}{\log \log h}\right)}$. This rules out the existence of a single-exponential algorithm and shows that the trivial upper bound $2^{{\mathcal O}(n\log{h})}$ is almost asymptotically tight. We also investigate what properties of graphs $G$ and $H$ make it difficult to solve HOM$(G,H)$. An easy observation is that an ${\mathcal O}(h^n)$ upper bound can be improved to ${\mathcal O}(h^{\operatorname{vc}(G)})$ where $\operatorname{vc}(G)$ is the minimum size of a vertex cover of $G$. The second lower bound $h^{\Omega(\operatorname{vc}(G))}$ shows that the upper bound is asymptotically tight. As to the properties of the "right-hand side" graph $H$, it is known that HOM$(G,H)$ can be solved in time $(f(\Delta(H)))^n$ and $(f(\operatorname{tw}(H)))^n$ where $\Delta(H)$ is the maximum degree of $H$ and $\operatorname{tw}(H)$ is the treewidth of $H$. This gives single-exponential algorithms for graphs of bounded maximum degree or bounded treewidth. Since the chromatic number $\chi(H)$ does not exceed $\operatorname{tw}(H)$ and $\Delta(H)+1$, it is natural to ask whether similar upper bounds with respect to $\chi(H)$ can be obtained. We provide a negative answer to this question by establishing a lower bound $(f(\chi(H)))^n$ for any function $f$. We also observe that similar lower bounds can be obtained for locally injective homomorphisms.Comment: 19 page