The proper conflict-free $k$-coloring problem and the odd $k$-coloring problem are NP-complete on bipartite graphs
Computational Complexity
2025-08-15 v1 Combinatorics
Abstract
A proper coloring of a graph is \emph{proper conflict-free} if every non-isolated vertex has a neighbor whose color is unique in the neighborhood of . A proper coloring of a graph is \emph{odd} if for every non-isolated vertex , there is a color appearing an odd number of times in the neighborhood of . For an integer , the \textsc{PCF -Coloring} problem asks whether an input graph admits a proper conflict-free -coloring and the \textsc{Odd -Coloring} asks whether an input graph admits an odd -coloring. We show that for every integer , both problems are NP-complete, even if the input graph is bipartite. Furthermore, we show that the \textsc{PCF -Coloring} problem is NP-complete when the input graph is planar.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2208.08330,
title = {The proper conflict-free $k$-coloring problem and the odd $k$-coloring problem are NP-complete on bipartite graphs},
author = {Jungho Ahn and Seonghyuk Im and Sang-il Oum},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.08330},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
13 pages, 2 figures