Let R be a commutative ring with identity, I its proper ideal and M be a unitary R-module. In this paper, we introduce and study a kind of graph structure of an R-module M with respect to proper ideal I, denoted by ΓI(RM) or simply ΓI(M). It is the (undirected) graph with the vertex set M\{0} and two distinct vertices x and y are adjacent if and only if [x : M][y : M] ⊆ I. Clearly, the zero-divisor graph of R is a subgraph of Γ0(R); this is an important result on the definition. We prove that if ann R(M) ⊆ I and H is the subgraph of ΓI(M) induced by the set of all non-isolated vertices, then diam (H) ≤ 3 and gr (ΓI(M)) ∈ {3, 4, ∞}. Also, we prove that if Spec (R) and ω(Γ Nil (R)(M)) are finite, then χ(Γ Nil (R)(M)) ≤ ∣ Spec (R)∣ + ω(Γ Nil (R)(M)). Moreover, for a secondary R-module M and prime ideal P, we determine the chromatic number and the clique number of ΓP(M), where ann R(M) ⊆ P. Among other results, it is proved that for a semisimple R-module M with ann R(M) ⊆ I, ΓI(M) is a forest if and only if ΓI(M) is a union of isolated vertices or a star.
The list chromatic number of graphs with small clique number
