Questions tagged [graph-colorings]

Vertex colouring, Edge Colouring, List Colouring, Fractional Chromatic Number and other variants of graph colouring problems are all on topic.

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Big mono-chromatic subgraphs of vertex 2-colourings

I'm not a graph theorist, but the following quantity came up in my work and I'm curious if it has been studied. Given a connected finite graph $\Gamma = (V,E)$ define: $$ c(\Gamma) = \min_{f : V \...
pgadey's user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
814 views

Graphs with the same chromatic symmetric function

Does anyone know more examples of two nonisomorphic connected graphs with the same chromatic symmetric function? The only pair I know is the one in Stanley's paper on c.s.f.'s [http://math.mit.edu/~...
Jeremy Martin's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
2k views

Do you know a faster algorithm to color planar graphs?

while studying the four color theorem, I implemented an algorithm (in Python and Sage) that can color planar graphs much faster than the implementations I found around on internet. The program can be ...
Mario Stefanutti's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
267 views

What is the chromatic number of the "conic hypergraph" on a non-singular plane cubic?

Can we color the points of a complex non-singular plane cubic curve with finitely many colors so that no conic intersects the curve at 6 distinct points of the same color? If so, what is the smallest ...
Gjergji Zaimi's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
236 views

A variant of Nelson-Hadwiger Problem on the chromatic number of the plane

The famous Nelson-Hadwiger problem asks about the chromatic number of the graph $G$, with the vertex set $V(G)={\mathbb R}^2$ where $a_1=(x_1,y_1), a_2=(x_2,y_2) \in V(G) \ $ form an edge iff $a_1-a_2$...
Keivan Karai's user avatar
  • 6,084
11 votes
1 answer
800 views

Graphs with only disjoint perfect matchings, with coloring

The following purely graph-theoretic question is motivated by quantum mechanics. Definitions: A bi-colored graph $G$ is an undirected graph where every edge is colored. An edge can either be ...
Mario Krenn's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
416 views

Chromatic number of Voronoi diagrams of lattices

Let $L$ be a Euclidean lattice. Define a graph whose vertex set is $L$ and where two points $x,y\in L$ are declared to be adjacent whenever the cells of $x$ and $y$ in the Voronoi diagram of $L$ have ...
Gro-Tsen's user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
357 views

Graph chromatic numbers defined by interactive proof

Edit (2020-07-15): Since the discussion below is perhaps a bit long, let me condense my question to the following Short form of the question: Let $G$ be a finite graph (undirected and without self-...
Gro-Tsen's user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
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What is known about the chromatic number for minimum-distance graphs in higher dimensions?

For a set of points in $\mathbb{R}^d$ with minimum distance $a$, the minimum-distance graph connect two points iff they are at distance $a$. We can also view it as the tangency graph for a set of ...
Hao Chen's user avatar
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11 votes
0 answers
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Is there a term for this graph subset?

Suppose $G$ is a (finite) graph which is $k$-vertex colourable (i.e. $\chi(G)\leqslant k$). Suppose $S$ is a set of vertices of $G$ with the following property: If $c:V(G)\rightarrow [k]$ is a vertex ...
JonCC's user avatar
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10 votes
2 answers
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Bounds on chromatic number of $k$-planar graphs

A $1$-planar graph can be drawn in the plane so that each arc is crossed at most once by another arc. A $k$-planar graph can be drawn so that each arc is crossed at most $k$ times. Planar graphs are ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
478 views

How many colors do we need to avoid bichromatic triangles?

Ramsey theory studies whether a monochromatic subgraph (more generally, structure) appears when we color the edges of a complete graph with some colors. I wonder if the following type of question has ...
domotorp's user avatar
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10 votes
2 answers
465 views

Labelled spanning trees without edge crossings

Draw the complete graph $K_n$ on a plane in general position with every edge a straight line and randomly label the edges $0$ or $1$. Does this graph always have a spanning tree with no edges crossing ...
Dr Shello's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
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When does a graph have a circular orientation? Or equivalently can anyone help me characterize this particular class of $3$-colorable perfect graphs?

Call an oriented digraph $D=(V,A)$ circular when for all $\small x,y,z\in V$ if $(x,y)\in A$ and $(y,z)\in A$ then $(z,x)\in A$ or equivalently if $D$ is any oriented digraph whose arc set is a ...
Ethan Splaver's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
801 views

Derivative of Tutte polynomial at -1

Let Tutte polynomial on graph with edge-set $E$ be defined as follows $$f(q,v)=\sum_{A\subseteq E} q^{\kappa(A)} v^{|A|}$$ Here the sum is over all subgraphs $A$, $\kappa(A)$ is the number of ...
Yaroslav Bulatov's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
443 views

Conjecture on minimum size of graph

Given a graph $G(V,E)$, let $\chi(G)$ be its chromatic number, and $\chi_1(G)$ its 1-improper chromatic number (meaning that each node can have at most 1 neighbor with the same color; or another way ...
Kuifje's user avatar
  • 225
10 votes
1 answer
796 views

Which lattices have more than one minimal periodic coloring?

The lattice $\mathbb{Z}^n$ has an essentially unique (up to permutation) minimal periodic coloring for all $n$, namely the "checkerboard" 2-coloring. Here a coloring of a lattice $L$ is a coloring of ...
Steve Huntsman's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
215 views

Kneser subgraph with high chromatic number

For positive integers $n\geq 2k$, it is known that the chromatic number of the Kneser graph $K_{n,k}$ is $n-2k+2$. Moreover, the Schrijver graph $S_{n,k}$ (definition in the same link), which is a ...
Dexter's user avatar
  • 223
10 votes
2 answers
575 views

Can we select a rainbow matching if each degree is 6 and each colorclass is a C_6?

Suppose that we have a 2d-regular graph whose edges are colored such that the edges of each color form a cycle of length 2d. (So if the graph has 2n vertices, then there are n colors.) Is it true that ...
domotorp's user avatar
  • 18.4k
10 votes
1 answer
884 views

Finding Two Rainbow Spanning Trees

Suppose we have a graph whose edges are coloured. It's not necessarily a proper colouring: a given node may have 0, 1, or several incident edges of a given colour. Is the following problem NP-...
Dave Pritchard's user avatar
10 votes
0 answers
607 views

A rainbow perfect matching in an edge-colored graph with spanning color classes

This question is a sequel of my last question and is eventually motivated by recent advances in quantum physics. Given an even number $n\ge 6$ and a positive integer $k<n$, Claim from the linked ...
Alex Ravsky's user avatar
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717 views

Has this notion of vertex-coloring of graphs been studied?

In a study of a quantum physics problem, I came about an apparently very natural type of vertex colorings of a graph. The colors of the vertex $v_i$ is inherited from perfect matchings $PM$ of an edge-...
Mario Krenn's user avatar
10 votes
0 answers
302 views

Among regular graphs, do cliques have the highest infection rate?

Consider a graph $G$ with a particular node $i$ labeled as “infected”. Other nodes start uninfected, and will become infected over time according to the following process: To each edge of the graph, ...
NageebAli's user avatar
  • 101
9 votes
5 answers
2k views

Highly symmetric 6-regular graph with 20 vertices

I'm interested in (node/edge-)symmetric 6-regular graphs on 20 vertices and 60 edges, especially ones with a A5/icosahedral/dodecahedral symmetry group and especially their chromatic number. So far I ...
Simon Lentner's user avatar
9 votes
4 answers
546 views

Graph homomorphisms and line graph

If $G,H$ are simple, undirected graphs, we say that they are in a hom(omorphism)-relation if there is a graph homomorphism from $G$ to $H$ or from $H$ to $G$. For any graph $G$ let $L(G)$ denote its ...
Dominic van der Zypen's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
792 views

Majority coloring for directed graphs

I came up with the following coloring concept when studying neural networks (which are often modelled using directed graphs). No idea whether there is already an established name for it. If $X$ is a ...
Dominic van der Zypen's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
559 views

Do planar graphs have an acyclic two-coloring?

A graph has an acyclic two-coloring if its vertices can be colored with two colors such that each color class spans a forest. Does every planar graph have an acyclic two-coloring? An affirmative ...
domotorp's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
273 views

Forming Subsets

This question is more of a graph problem. Suppose $A=\{1,2,..,n\}$, and we want to construct the sets $B(i)$,$1\leq i\leq n$, such that $i \not\in B(i)$ and the following constraints on the set $B(i)$ ...
Vivek Mishra's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
312 views

Goldberg-Seymour conjecture

I am wondering whether the graph theory community regards the Goldberg-Seymour conjecture as settled. According to the Wikipedia entry on the Goldberg-Seymour conjecture, "In 2019, an alleged ...
James Propp's user avatar
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9 votes
0 answers
154 views

Minimal number of colours in distinguishing colouring of biconnected graphs

A colouring of edges of a graph is distingushing if no non-identity automorphism of the graph preserves this colouring. Problem. Is it true that each biconnected graph possesses a distinguishing ...
Lviv Scottish Book's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
689 views

Induced subgraphs of any given smaller chromatic number

Let $G = (V,E)$ be a simple, undirected graph with $\chi(G)$ infinite. Given a cardinal $\kappa$ with $0 < \kappa < \chi(G)$, is there an induced subgraph $S$ of $G$ with $\chi(S) = \kappa$? ...
Dominic van der Zypen's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
1k views

What makes Graph invariants so useful/important?

What makes Graph invariants so useful/important? If I were trying to create a useful graph invariant, what principles should I follow? My understanding is that they allow one to isolate and study ...
Ishaan Shah's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
722 views

Maximum number of perfect matchings in a planar graph?

What is the maximum number of perfect matchings a planar $k$-partite $|V|$ number of vertices simple graph can have where $k=2,3,4$ ($k>4$ is impossible for a planar graph)? Since number of ...
Turbo's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
214 views

What is known about graphs that permit only one colouring?

Some graphs ($K_n$ or $K_n$ minus any one edge, for instance) only permit one minimal colouring up to different labels of the colours. Is there anything known about these kind of graphs? I can think ...
Sam Benner's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
437 views

Coloring of the plane

I would like to know the minimum number k such that the plane R^2 can be coloured with k colors such that no colour contain all the possible distances. In other words, a colouring such that each color ...
Quentin Fortier's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
523 views

coincidence between minimal triangulation numbers and chromatic numbers

A friend and I were reading up on the classification of compact surfaces when we realized that the minimal number of triangles in a triangulation of the sphere, torus, and projective plane are 4 (...
Yan X Zhang's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
297 views

How many uniquely colored degree two vertices in 3-coloring of subcubic graph?

Is there a graph with maximum degree three that has 3 degree two vertices that must get the same (resp. different) color in every 3-coloring of the graph? I'm interested in any similar results as ...
domotorp's user avatar
  • 18.4k
8 votes
3 answers
1k views

Edge-coloring of the complete graph without any rainbow paths

For a given $2k-1$ edge coloring of the complete graph $K_{2k}$, say a Hamiltonian path $P$ is a rainbow path if every color appears exactly once in $P$. My question is "For each $2k (k \geq 2)$, is ...
Ilhee Kim's user avatar
  • 248
8 votes
1 answer
161 views

Replacing maximum degree with degeneracy in Reed's conjecture

Reed's conjecture says that $\chi(G)\leq \lceil\frac{\omega(G)+\Delta(G)+1}{2}\rceil$. One can think of $\lceil\frac{\omega(G)+\Delta(G)+1}{2}\rceil$ as the (rounded-up) average of the trivial lower ...
Louis D's user avatar
  • 1,666
8 votes
2 answers
377 views

Chromatic number of $C_4$-free graphs

How large can the chromatic number of an $n$-vertex $C_4$-free graph be? If the maximum degree of the graph $G$ is $\Delta$, is there a bound of the form $\chi(G) \leq O(\Delta/\log(\Delta))$ as in ...
Lior Gishboliner's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
248 views

Colorings of triangulations as a generalization of the four-color problem

My question can be viewed as a generalization of the four-color problem. Instead of a planar graph, consider a triangulation of a d-sphere. One wants to color vertices with N colors so that no two ...
Anton Kapustin's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
642 views

Fractional chromatic number, find reference to a particular alternate definition for

I'm searching for a reference to a particular alternate definition of the fractional chromatic number of graphs. Let me review the most common definition and basic properties first. Let $ G $ be ...
Zsbán Ambrus's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
374 views

What is this Ramsey problem?

Given positive integers, $n,m,r$, define $R((n,m);r)$ to be the least $N$ such that for any $r$-coloring $C:E(K_N)\to \{1,\dots,r\}$, there is some monochromatic subgraph with $n$ vertices and $m$ ...
Zach Hunter's user avatar
  • 3,413
8 votes
1 answer
1k views

Has anyone seen this graph?

I recently constructed the graph shown below in the process of investigating some problems regarding line graphs and homomorphisms, and then happened to see it on wikipedia. I was wondering if anyone ...
David Roberson's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
262 views

Does hereditary 2-coloring imply polychromatic 3-coloring for large edges?

For a hypergraph $\mathcal H=(V,\mathcal E)$, denote by $m_k$ the smallest number for which we can $k$-color any $X\subset V$ such that for any $E\in \mathcal E$ with $|E\cap X|\ge m_k$ all $k$ colors ...
domotorp's user avatar
  • 18.4k
8 votes
0 answers
63 views

Color edges of graph w/r/t large induced subgraphs

Can we color the edges of any graph $G$ on $2m-1$ vertices with two colors such that any induced subgraph with at least $m$ edges is non-monochromatic? If true, this would be sharp as shown by the ...
domotorp's user avatar
  • 18.4k
8 votes
0 answers
149 views

Edge-colorings of plane graphs: do you know references where the following questions are studied?

Let $G$ be a plane graph (or more generally, a graph embedded on a surface) with a proper edge-coloring of $G$ with $k$ colors $\{1,\ldots,k\}$. I am interested in studying the cyclic permutations of ...
Florent Foucaud's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
1k views

Could the 4-color theorem be proven by contracting snarks?

Suppose someone came up with an algorithm that could take any snark and perform edge contraction to result in the Peterson graph. If an inspection of the algorithm reveals that it works as claimed, ...
prideout's user avatar
  • 173
7 votes
1 answer
336 views

Choosing two-colorable subgraph in a triangulation

Consider a planar graph $G$ which is a triangulation. Is it possible to find a two-colorable subgraph $H$ of $G$ which has a common edge with every face of $G$? It is known that it is not always ...
Gabriel's user avatar
  • 71
7 votes
1 answer
2k views

Graphs in which any two odd cycles have a common vertex

Let $G$ be a graph in which any two odd cycles have a common vertex. It is easy to see that $\chi(G)\leq 5$ (choose minimal odd cycle $C$, use two colors for $G\setminus C$ and three colors for $C$). ...
Fedor Petrov's user avatar

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