Related papers: Ore's Conjecture for $k=4$ and Gr\" otzsch Theorem

A graph $G$ is $k$-critical if it has chromatic number $k$, but every proper subgraph of $G$ is $(k-1)$--colorable. Let $f_k(n)$ denote the minimum number of edges in an $n$-vertex $k$-critical graph. We give a lower bound, $f_k(n) \geq…

A graph $G$ is $k$-{\em critical} if it has chromatic number $k$, but every proper subgraph of $G$ is $(k-1)$--colorable. Let $f_k(n)$ denote the minimum number of edges in an $n$-vertex $k$-critical graph. Recently the authors gave a lower…

Dirac introduced the notion of a k-critical graph, a graph that is not (k-1)-colorable but whose every proper subgraph is (k-1)-colorable. Brook's Theorem states that every graph with maximum degree k is k-colorable unless it contains a…

A recent lower bound on the number of edges in a k-critical n-vertex graph by Kostochka and Yancey yields a half-page proof of the celebrated Gr\"otzsch Theorem that every planar triangle-free graph is 3-colorable. In this paper we use the…

It is proved that every connected graph $G$ on $n$ vertices with $\chi(G) \geq 4$ has at most $k(k-1)^{n-3}(k-2)(k-3)$ $k$-colourings for every $k \geq 4$. Equality holds for some (and then for every) $k$ if and only if the graph is formed…

A graph $G$ is $(d_1,\ldots,d_k)$-colorable if its vertex set can be partitioned into $k$ sets $V_1,\ldots,V_k$, such that for each $i\in\{1, \ldots, k\}$, the subgraph of $G$ induced by $V_i$ has maximum degree at most $d_i$. The Four…

A graph $G$ is $k$-critical (list $k$-critical, DP $k$-critical) if $\chi(G)= k$ ($\chi_\ell(G)= k$, $\chi_\mathrm{DP}(G)= k$) and for every proper subgraph $G'$ of $G$, $\chi(G')<k$ ($\chi_\ell(G')< k$, $\chi_\mathrm{DP}(G')<k$). Let $f(n,…

An {\em odd subgraph} of a graph is a subgraph in which every vertex has odd degree. A graph $G$ is said to be {\em odd $k$-edge-colorable} if there exists an edge-coloring $E(G) \rightarrow \{1,2, \ldots, k\}$ such that each non-empty…

Given graphs $H_1, H_2$, a {red, blue}-coloring of the edges of a graph $G$ is a critical coloring if $G$ has neither a red $H_1$ nor a blue $ H_2$. A non-complete graph $G$ is $(H_1, H_2)$-co-critical if $G$ admits a critical coloring, but…

The Gr\"{o}tzsch Theorem states that every triangle-free planar graph admits a proper $3$-coloring. Among many of its generalizations, the one of Gr\"{u}nbaum and Aksenov, giving $3$-colorability of planar graphs with at most three…

A graph $G$ is called chromatic-choosable if $\chi(G)=ch(G)$. A natural problem is to determine the minimum number of vertices in a $k$-chromatic non-$k$-choosable graph. It was conjectured by Ohba, and proved by Noel, Reed and Wu that…

A graph is called $k$-critical if its chromatic number is $k$ but any proper subgraph has chromatic number less than $k$. An old and important problem in graph theory asks to determine the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex…

In 1971, Tomescu conjectured that every connected graph $G$ on $n$ vertices with chromatic number $k\geq4$ has at most $k!(k-1)^{n-k}$ proper $k$-colorings. Recently, Knox and Mohar proved Tomescu's conjecture for $k=4$ and $k=5$. In this…

A graph $G$ is $k$-vertex-critical if $G$ has chromatic number $k$ but every proper induced subgraph of $G$ has chromatic number less than $k$. The study of $k$-vertex-critical graphs for graph classes is an important topic in algorithmic…

Criticality is a fundamental notion in graph theory that has been studied continually since its introduction in the early 50s by Dirac. A graph is called $k$-vertex-critical ($k$-edge-critical) if it is $k$-chromatic but removing any vertex…

A 2018 conjecture of Brewster, McGuinness, Moore, and Noel asserts that for $k \ge 3$, if a graph has chromatic number greater than $k$, then it contains at least as many cycles of length $0 \bmod k$ as the complete graph on $k+1$ vertices.…

Given an integer $r\gs 2$, an important theorem first proved by B. Andr\'asfai, P. Erd\H{o}s, and V. T. S\'os states that any $K_{r+1}$--free graph on $n$ vertices whose minimum degree is greater than $(3r-4)n/(3r-1)$ is $r$--colourable,…

A well-known theorem of Vizing states that if $G$ is a simple graph with maximum degree $\Delta$, then the chromatic index $\chi'(G)$ of $G$ is $\Delta$ or $\Delta+1$. A graph $G$ is class 1 if $\chi'(G)=\Delta$, and class 2 if…

Let $\phi(k)$ be the minimum number of vertices in a non-$k$-choosable $k$-chromatic graph. The Ohba conjecture, confirmed by Noel, Reed and Wu, asserts that $\phi(k) \ge 2k+2$. This bound is tight if $k$ is even. If $k$ is odd, then it is…

A graph $G$ of order $n$ is said to be $k$-factor-critical for integers $1\leq k < n$, if the removal of any $k$ vertices results in a graph with a perfect matching. $1$- and $2$-factor-critical graphs are the well-known factor-critical and…