English

Minimum order of graphs with given coloring parameters

Discrete Mathematics 2013-12-31 v1 Combinatorics

Abstract

A complete kk-coloring of a graph G=(V,E)G=(V,E) is an assignment φ:V{1,,k}\varphi:V\to\{1,\ldots,k\} of colors to the vertices such that no two vertices of the same color are adjacent, and the union of any two color classes contains at least one edge. Three extensively investigated graph invariants related to complete colorings are the minimum and maximum number of colors in a complete coloring (chromatic number χ(G)\chi(G) and achromatic number ψ(G)\psi(G), respectively), and the Grundy number Γ(G)\Gamma(G) defined as the largest kk admitting a complete coloring φ\varphi with exactly kk colors such that every vertex vVv\in V of color φ(v)\varphi(v) has a neighbor of color ii for all 1i<φ(v)1\le i<\varphi(v). The inequality chain χ(G)Γ(G)ψ(G)\chi(G)\le \Gamma(G)\le \psi(G) obviously holds for all graphs GG. A triple (f,g,h)(f,g,h) of positive integers at least 2 is called realizable if there exists a connected graph GG with χ(G)=f\chi(G)=f, Γ(G)=g\Gamma(G)=g, and ψ(G)=h\psi(G)=h. Chartrand et al. (A note on graphs with prescribed complete coloring numbers, J. Combin. Math. Combin. Comput. LXXIII (2010) 77-84) found the list of realizable triples. In this paper we determine the minimum number of vertices in a connected graph with chromatic number ff, Grundy number gg, and achromatic number hh, for all realizable triples (f,g,h)(f,g,h) of integers. Furthermore, for f=g=3f=g=3 we describe the (two) extremal graphs for each h6h \geq 6. For h=4h=4 and 55, there are more extremal graphs, their description is contained as well.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1312.7522,
  title  = {Minimum order of graphs with given coloring parameters},
  author = {Gabor Bacso and Piotr Borowiecki and Mihaly Hujter and Zsolt Tuza},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.7522},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

23 pages, 6 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-22T02:36:24.958Z