Generalized edge-colorings of weighted graphs
Let [Formula: see text] be a graph with a positive integer weight [Formula: see text] for each vertex [Formula: see text]. One wishes to assign each edge [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] a positive integer [Formula: see text] as a color so that [Formula: see text] for any vertex [Formula: see text] and any two edges [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] incident to [Formula: see text]. Such an assignment [Formula: see text] is called an [Formula: see text]-edge-coloring of [Formula: see text], and the maximum integer assigned to edges is called the span of [Formula: see text]. The [Formula: see text]-chromatic index of [Formula: see text] is the minimum span over all [Formula: see text]-edge-colorings of [Formula: see text]. In the paper, we present various upper and lower bounds on the [Formula: see text]-chromatic index, and obtain three efficient algorithms to find an [Formula: see text]-edge-coloring of a given graph. One of them finds an [Formula: see text]-edge-coloring with span smaller than twice the [Formula: see text]-chromatic index.