English

List packing of graphs with bounded tree-width

Combinatorics 2026-03-30 v1

Abstract

Assume LL is a kk-assignment of a graph GG. An LL-packing ϕ\phi of GG is a sequence ϕ=(ϕ1,,ϕk)\phi=(\phi_1, \ldots, \phi_k) of kk-mappings such that each ϕi\phi_i is an LL-coloring of GG, and for each vertex vv of GG, {ϕ1(v),,ϕk(v)}=L(v)\{\phi_1(v), \ldots, \phi_k(v)\} = L(v) (and hence ϕi(v)ϕj(v)\phi_i(v) \ne \phi_j(v) when iji \ne j). We say GG is list kk-packable if for any kk-assignment LL of GG, there is an LL-packing of GG. The list packing number χl(G)\chi_l^{\star}(G) of GG is the minimum integer kk such that GG is kk-packable. For a positive integer dd, let t(d)t(d) be the maximum packing number of graphs of tree-width at most dd. It was known that d+1t(d)2dd+1 \le t(d) \le 2d for any dd. In this paper, we prove that t(d)2d1t(d) \le 2d-1 for d3d \ge 3, and t(d)d+2t(d) \ge d+2 for d2d \ge 2. In particular, t(2)=4t(2)=4 and t(3)=5t(3)=5. Furthermore, we show that for constant positive integers k,dk, d, the problem of determining χl(G)k\chi_l^{\star}(G)\leq k or not for a graph GG of tree-width at most dd is solvable in linear time.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.26187,
  title  = {List packing of graphs with bounded tree-width},
  author = {Masaki Kashima and Shun-ichi Maezawa and Xuding Zhu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.26187},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T11:40:24.516Z