English

Bounding the weight choosability number of a graph

Combinatorics 2014-01-28 v3

Abstract

Let G=(V,E)G = (V,E) be a graph, and for each eE(G)e \in E(G), let LeL_e be a list of real numbers. Let w:E(G)eE(G)Lew:E(G) \to \cup_{e \in E(G)}L_e be an edge weighting function such that w(e)Lew(e) \in L_e for each eE(G)e \in E(G), and let cwc_w be the vertex colouring obtained by cw(v)=evw(e)c_w(v) = \sum_{e \ni v}w(e). We desire the smallest possible kk such that, for any choice of {LeeE(G)}\{L_e \,|\, e \in E(G)\} where Lek|L_e| \geq k for all eE(G)e \in E(G), there exists an edge weighting function ww for which cwc_w is proper. The smallest such value of kk is the weight choosability number of GG. This colouring problem, introduced by Bartnicki, Grytczuk and Niwczyk (2009), is the list variation of the now famous 1-2-3 Conjecture due to Karo\'nski, {\L}uczak, and Thomason (2004). Bartnicki et al. develop a method for approaching the problem based on the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz. Though they show that some particular classes of graphs have weight choosability number at most 33, it was known whether their method could be extended to prove a bound which holds for all admissible graphs. In this paper, we show that this is indeed possible, showing that every graph is (Δ+d+1)(\Delta + d + 1)-weight choosable, where Δ\Delta is the graph's maximum degree and dd is its degeneracy. In fact, more general results on total weight choosability are provided, where one assigns weights to edges and vertices. Improved bounds are also established for some classes of graph products.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1210.6944,
  title  = {Bounding the weight choosability number of a graph},
  author = {Ben Seamone},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1210.6944},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

This is an updated version of a previously posted paper entitled "On weight choosability and additive choosability numbers of graphs". The previous version contained some minor results on additive colourings, which have been removed. Please contact the author if these are of interest. (20 pages, 6 figures)