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It is proved that for every $\varepsilon>0$, there exists $K>0$ such that for every integer $t\ge2$, every graph with chromatic number at least $Kt$ contains a minor with $t$ vertices and edge density at least $1-\varepsilon$. Indeed,…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-08-09 Tung H. Nguyen

For positive integers $t$ and $s$, let $\mathcal{K}_t^{-s}$ denote the family of graphs obtained from the complete graph $K_t$ by removing $s$ edges. A graph $G$ has no $\mathcal{K}_t^{-s}$ minor if it has no $H$ minor for every $H\in…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-10-06 Michael Lafferty , Zi-Xia Song

Hadwiger's Conjecture states that every $K_{t+1}$-minor-free graph is $t$-colourable. It is widely considered to be one of the most important conjectures in graph theory. If every $K_{t+1}$-minor-free graph has minimum degree at most…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2013-04-25 David R. Wood

We propose local versions of Hadwiger's Conjecture, where only balls of radius $\Omega(\log(v(G)))$ around each vertex are required to be $K_{t}$-minor-free. We ask: if a graph is locally-$K_{t}$-minor-free, is it $t$-colourable? We show…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-09-15 Benjamin Moore , Luke Postle , Lise Turner

Hadwiger's conjecture says that every $K_t$-minor free graph is $(t - 1)$-colorable. This problem has been proved for $t \leq 6$ but remains open for $t \geq 7$. $K_7$-minor free graphs have been proved to be $8$-colorable (Albar &…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2014-02-13 Boris Albar

For a graph G and an integer t we let mcc_t(G) be the smallest m such that there exists a coloring of the vertices of G by t colors with no monochromatic connected subgraph having more than m vertices. Let F be any nontrivial minor-closed…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2007-05-23 N. Linial , J. Matousek , O. Sheffet , G. Tardos

We prove that there exist graphs which do not contain $K_t$ as an odd minor and whose chromatic number is at least $(\frac 32-o(1))t$. This disproves, in a strong form, the odd Hadwiger conjecture of Gerards and Seymour from 1993.

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-12-24 Marcus Kühn , Lisa Sauermann , Raphael Steiner , Yuval Wigderson

Archdeacon (1987) proved that graphs embeddable on a fixed surface can be $3$-coloured so that each colour class induces a subgraph of bounded maximum degree. Edwards, Kang, Kim, Oum and Seymour (2015) proved that graphs with no…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-07-15 Patrice Ossona de Mendez , Sang-il Oum , David R. Wood

Alon, Krivelevich, and Sudakov conjectured in 1999 that every $F$-free graph of maximum degree at most $\Delta$ has chromatic number $O(\Delta / \log \Delta)$. This was previously known only for almost bipartite graphs, that is, for…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-12-05 Abhishek Dhawan , Oliver Janzer , Abhishek Methuku

Let g(t) be the minimum number such that every graph G with average degree d(G) \geq g(t) contains a K_{t}-minor. Such a function is known to exist, as originally shown by Mader. Kostochka and Thomason independently proved that g(t) \in…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2014-01-07 Vida Dujmović , Daniel J. Harvey , Gwenaël Joret , Bruce Reed , David R. Wood

Hadwiger's Conjecture from 1943 states that every graph with chromatic number $t$ contains a $K_t$ minor. Illingworth and Wood [arXiv:2405.14299] introduced the concept of a ``dominating $K_t$ minor'' and asked whether every graph with…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-11-18 Michael Scully , Zi-Xia Song

Kostochka and Thomason independently showed that any graph with average degree $\Omega(r\sqrt{\log r})$ contains a $K_r$ minor. In particular, any graph with chromatic number $\Omega(r\sqrt{\log r})$ contains a $K_r$ minor, a partial result…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-10-13 Maria Axenovich , António Girão , Richard Snyder , Lea Weber

The classic upper bound on the chromatic number of $d$-degenerate graphs is $d+1$, shown to be tight by complete graphs. A natural question is whether this bound remains tight if one forbids large cliques. Classic constructions of Tutte and…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-01-22 Domagoj Bradač , Jacob Fox , Raphael Steiner , Benny Sudakov , Shengtong Zhang

A graph $G$ is \textit{$k$-critical} if $\chi(G) = k$ and every proper subgraph of $G$ is $(k - 1)$-colorable, and if $L$ is a list-assignment for $G$, then $G$ is \textit{$L$-critical} if $G$ is not $L$-colorable but every proper induced…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-06-01 Tom Kelly , Luke Postle

Hadwiger's famous coloring conjecture states that every $t$-chromatic graph contains a $K_t$-minor. Holroyd [Bull. London Math. Soc. 29, (1997), pp. 139--144] conjectured the following strengthening of Hadwiger's conjecture: If $G$ is a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-09-02 Anders Martinsson , Raphael Steiner

A dominating $K_t$ minor in a graph $G$ is a sequence $(T_1,\dots,T_t)$ of pairwise disjoint non-empty connected subgraphs of $G$, such that for $1 \leq i<j\leq t$, every vertex in $T_j$ has a neighbor in $T_i$. Replacing ``every vertex in…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-10-15 Zi-Xia Song , Thomas Tibbetts

The Odd Hadwiger's conjecture, formulated by Gerards and Seymour in 1995, is a substantial strengthening of Hadwiger's famous coloring conjecture from 1943. We investigate whether the hierarchy of topological lower bounds on the chromatic…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-01-03 Raphael Steiner

We prove that graphs that do not contain a totally odd immersion of $K_t$ are $\mathcal{O}(t)$-colorable. In particular, we show that any graph with no totally odd immersion of $K_t$ is the union of a bipartite graph and a graph which…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-08-21 Caleb McFarland

We show that for sufficiently large $d$ and for $t\geq d+1$, there is a graph $G$ with average degree $(1-\varepsilon)\lambda t \sqrt{\ln d}$ such that almost every graph $H$ with $t$ vertices and average degree $d$ is not a minor of $G$,…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-12-14 Sergey Norin , Bruce Reed , Andrew Thomason , David R. Wood

A $\frac{1}{k}$-majority $l$-edge-colouring of a graph $G$ is a colouring of its edges with $l$ colours such that for every colour $i$ and each vertex $v$ of $G$, at most $\frac{1}{k}$'th of the edges incident with $v$ have colour $i$. We…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-09-29 Paweł Pękała , Jakub Przybyło