Related papers: Graph Colouring Is Hard on Average for Polynomial …
We consider the graph $k$-colouring problem encoded as a set of polynomial equations in the standard way over $0/1$-valued variables. We prove that there are bounded-degree graphs that do not have legal $k$-colourings but for which the…
We consider the problem of coloring the squares of graphs of bounded maximum average degree, that is, the problem of coloring the vertices while ensuring that two vertices that are adjacent or have a common neighbour receive different…
Systems of polynomial equations over the complex or real numbers can be used to model combinatorial problems. In this way, a combinatorial problem is feasible (e.g. a graph is 3-colorable, hamiltonian, etc.) if and only if a related system…
We present bounds for the sparseness and for the degrees of the polynomials in the Nullstellensatz. Our bounds depend mainly on the unmixed volume of the input polynomial system. The degree bounds can substantially improve the known ones…
Systems of polynomial equations over an algebraically-closed field K can be used to concisely model many combinatorial problems. In this way, a combinatorial problem is feasible (e.g., a graph is 3-colorable, hamiltonian, etc.) if and only…
The long-standing Erd\H{o}s-Faber-Lov\'asz conjecture states that every $n$-uniform linear hypergaph with $n$ edges has a proper vertex-coloring using $n$ colors. In this paper we propose an algebraic framework to the problem and formulate…
The canonical Ramsey theorem of Erd\H{o}s and Rado implies that for any graph $H$, any edge-coloring (with an arbitrary number of colors) of a sufficiently large complete graph $K_N$ contains a monochromatic, lexicographic, or rainbow copy…
A strong edge-coloring of a graph $G$ is a coloring of edges of $G$ such that every color class forms an induced matching. The strong chromatic index is the minimum number of colors needed to color the graph. The Ore-degree $\theta(G)$ of a…
Deciding whether a planar graph (even of maximum degree $4$) is $3$-colorable is NP-complete. Determining subclasses of planar graphs being $3$-colorable has a long history, but since Gr\"{o}tzsch's result that triangle-free planar graphs…
In a seminal paper, De Loera et. al introduce the algorithm NulLA (Nullstellensatz Linear Algebra) and use it to measure the difficulty of determining if a graph is not 3-colorable. The crux of this relies on a correspondence between…
We initiate the study of applying the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz to the DP-coloring of graphs even though, as is well-known, the Alon-Tarsi theorem does not apply to DP-coloring. We define the notion of good covers of prime order which…
Answering a question by Letzter and Snyder, we prove that for large enough $k$ any $n$-vertex graph $G$ with minimum degree at least $\frac{1}{2k-1}n$ and without odd cycles of length less than $2k+1$ is $3$-colourable. In fact, we prove a…
We revisit a well-known family of polynomial ideals encoding the problem of graph-$k$-colorability. Our paper describes how the inherent combinatorial structure of the ideals implies several interesting algebraic properties. Specifically,…
We study the computational efficiency of approaches, based on Hilbert's Nullstellensatz, which use systems of linear equations for detecting non-colorability of graphs having large girth and chromatic number. We show that for every…
It was shown by Grohe et al. that nowhere dense classes of graphs admit sparse neighbourhood covers of small degree. We show that a monotone graph class admits sparse neighbourhood covers if and only if it is nowhere dense. The existence of…
NP-complete problems should be hard on some instances but those may be extremely rare. On generic instances many such problems, especially related to random graphs, have been proven easy. We show the intractability of random instances of a…
As starting point, we formulate a corollary to the Quantitative Combinatorial Nullstellensatz. This corollary does not require the consideration of any coefficients of polynomials, only evaluations of polynomial functions. In certain…
An NP-complete coloring or homomorphism problem may become polynomial time solvable when restricted to graphs with degrees bounded by a small number, but remain NP-complete if the bound is higher. For instance, 3-colorability of graphs with…
We prove the existence of a function $f :\mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{N}$ such that the vertices of every planar graph with maximum degree $\Delta$ can be 3-colored in such a way that each monochromatic component has at most $f(\Delta)$ vertices.…
Given a graph $G$ and an integer $p$, a coloring $f : V(G) \to \mathbb{N}$ is \emph{$p$-centered} if for every connected subgraph $H$ of $G$, either $f$ uses more than $p$ colors on $H$ or there is a color that appears exactly once in $H$.…