LIST COLORING OF BLOCK GRAPHS AND COMPLETE BIPARTITE GRAPHS

List coloring is a vertex coloring of a graph where each vertex can be restricted to a list of allowed colors. For a given graph G and a set L(v) of colors for every vertex v, a list coloring is a function that maps every vertex v to a color in the list L(v) such that no two adjacent vertices receive the same color. It was first studied in the 1970s in independent papers by Vizing and by Erdős, Rubin, and Taylor. A block graph is a type of undirected graph in which every biconnected component (block) is a clique. A complete bipartite graph is a bipartite graph with partitions V 1, V 2 such that for every two vertices v_1∈V_1 and v_2∈V_2 there is an edge (v 1, v 2). If |V_1 |=n and |V_2 |=m it is denoted by K_(n,m). In this paper we provide a polynomial algorithm for finding a list coloring of block graphs and prove that the problem of finding a list coloring of K_(n,m) is NP-complete even if for each vertex v the length of the list is not greater than 3 (|L(v)|≤3).

Planar graphs without intersecting 5-cycles are signed-4-choosable

A signed graph is a pair [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is a graph and [Formula: see text] is a signature of [Formula: see text]. A set [Formula: see text] of integers is symmetric if [Formula: see text] implies that [Formula: see text]. Given a list assignment [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text], an [Formula: see text]-coloring of a signed graph [Formula: see text] is a coloring [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] such that [Formula: see text] for each [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] for every edge [Formula: see text]. The signed choice number [Formula: see text] of a graph [Formula: see text] is defined to be the minimum integer [Formula: see text] such that for any [Formula: see text]-list assignment [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] and for any signature [Formula: see text] on [Formula: see text], there is a proper [Formula: see text]-coloring of [Formula: see text]. List signed coloring is a generalization of list coloring. However, the difference between signed choice number and choice number can be arbitrarily large. Hu and Wu [Planar graphs without intersecting [Formula: see text]-cycles are [Formula: see text]-choosable, Discrete Math. 340 (2017) 1788–1792] showed that every planar graph without intersecting 5-cycles is 4-choosable. In this paper, we prove that [Formula: see text] if [Formula: see text] is a planar graph without intersecting 5-cycles, which extends the main result of [D. Hu and J. Wu, Planar graphs without intersecting [Formula: see text]-cycles are [Formula: see text]-choosable, Discrete Math. 340 (2017) 1788–1792].

Answers to Two Questions on the DP Color Function

DP-coloring is a generalization of list coloring that was introduced in 2015 by Dvořák and Postle. The chromatic polynomial of a graph is a notion that has been extensively studied since the early 20th century. The chromatic polynomial of graph $G$ is denoted $P(G,m)$, and it is equal to the number of proper $m$-colorings of $G$. In 2019, Kaul and Mudrock introduced an analogue of the chromatic polynomial for DP-coloring; specifically, the DP color function of graph $G$ is denoted $P_{DP}(G,m)$. For vertex disjoint graphs $G$ and $H$, suppose $G \vee H$ denotes the join of $G$ and $H$. Two fundamental questions posed by Kaul and Mudrock are: (1) For any graph $G$ with $n$ vertices, is it the case that $P(G,m)-P_{DP}(G,m) = O(m^{n-3})$ as $m \rightarrow \infty$? and (2) For every graph $G$, does there exist $p,N \in \mathbb{N}$ such that $P_{DP}(K_p \vee G, m) = P(K_p \vee G, m)$ whenever $m \geq N$? We show that the answer to both these questions is yes. In fact, we show the answer to (2) is yes even if we require $p=1$.

Coloring Problems on Bipartite Graphs of Small Diameter

We investigate a number of coloring problems restricted to bipartite graphs with bounded diameter. First, we investigate the $k$-List Coloring, $k$-Coloring, and $k$-Precoloring Extension problems on bipartite graphs with diameter at most $d$, proving $\textsf{NP}$-completeness in most cases, and leaving open only the List $3$-Coloring and $3$-Precoloring Extension problems when $d=3$. Some of these results are obtained $\textsc{through}$ a proof that the Surjective $C_6$-Homomorphism problem is $\textsf{NP}$-complete on bipartite graphs with diameter at most four. Although the latter result has been already proved [Vikas, 2017], we present ours as an alternative simpler one. As a byproduct, we also get that $3$-Biclique Partition is $\textsf{NP}$-complete. An attempt to prove this result was presented in [Fleischner, Mujuni, Paulusma, and Szeider, 2009], but there was a flaw in their proof, which we identify and discuss here. Finally, we prove that the $3$-Fall Coloring problem is $\textsf{NP}$-complete on bipartite graphs with diameter at most four, and prove that $\textsf{NP}$-completeness for diameter three would also imply $\textsf{NP}$-completeness of $3$-Precoloring Extension on diameter three, thus closing the previously mentioned open cases. This would also answer a question posed in [Kratochvíl, Tuza, and Voigt, 2002].