English

The difference between the chromatic and the cochromatic number of a random graph

Combinatorics 2025-02-21 v2

Abstract

The cochromatic number ζ(G)\zeta(G) of a graph GG is the minimum number of colours needed for a vertex colouring where every colour class is either an independent set or a clique. Let χ(G)\chi(G) denote the usual chromatic number. Around 1991 Erd\H{o}s and Gimbel asked: For the random graph GGn,1/2G \sim G_{n, 1/2}, does χ(G)ζ(G)\chi(G)-\zeta(G) \rightarrow \infty whp? Erd\H{o}s offered $100 for a positive and $1,000 for a negative answer. We give a positive answer to this question for roughly 95% of all values nn.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2409.17614,
  title  = {The difference between the chromatic and the cochromatic number of a random graph},
  author = {Annika Heckel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.17614},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

15 pages. Minor edits and corrections