English

On the on-line coloring of unit interval graphs with proper interval representation

Combinatorics 2025-02-26 v6 Data Structures and Algorithms

Abstract

We define the problem as a two-player game between Algorithm and Builder. The game is played in rounds. Each round, Builder presents an interval that is neither contained in nor contains any previously presented interval. Algorithm immediately and irrevocably assigns the interval a color that has not been assigned to any interval intersecting it. The set of intervals form an interval representation for a unit interval graph and the colors form a proper coloring of that graph. For every positive integer ω\omega, we define the value R(ω)R(\omega) as the maximum number of colors for which Builder has a strategy that forces Algorithm to use R(ω)R(\omega) colors with the restriction that the unit interval graph constructed cannot contain a clique of size ω+1\omega+1. In 1981, Chrobak and \'{S}lusarek showed that R(ω)2ω1R(\omega)\leq2\omega -1. In 2005, Epstein and Levy showed that R(ω)3ω/2R(\omega)\geq\lfloor{3\omega/2\rfloor}. This problem remained unsolved for ω3\omega\geq 3. In 2023, Bir\'o and Curbelo showed that R(3)=5R(3)=5. In this paper, we show that R(4)=7R(4)=7

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2401.05648,
  title  = {On the on-line coloring of unit interval graphs with proper interval representation},
  author = {Israel R. Curbelo and Hannah R. Malko},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.05648},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

To be published in Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science (DMTCS)