English

Maximizing Satisfied Vertex Requests in List Coloring

Combinatorics 2026-01-01 v3

Abstract

Suppose GG is a graph and LL is a list assignment for GG. A request of LL is a function rr with nonempty domain DV(G)D\subseteq V(G) such that r(v)L(v)r(v) \in L(v) for each vDv \in D. The triple (G,L,r)(G,L,r) is ϵ\epsilon-satisfiable if there exists a proper LL-coloring ff of GG such that f(v)=r(v)f(v) = r(v) for at least ϵD\epsilon|D| vertices in DD. We say GG is (k,ϵ)(k, \epsilon)-flexible if (G,L,r)(G,L',r') is ϵ\epsilon-satisfiable whenever LL' is a kk-assignment for GG and rr' is a request of LL'. It is known that a graph GG is not (k,ϵ)(k, \epsilon)-flexible for any kk if and only if ϵ>1/ρ(G)\epsilon > 1/ \rho(G) where ρ(G)\rho(G) is the Hall ratio of GG. The list flexibility number of a graph GG, denoted χflex(G)\chi_{\ell flex}(G), is the smallest kk such that GG is (k,1/ρ(G))(k,1/ \rho(G))-flexible. A fundamental open question on list flexibility numbers asks: Is there a graph with list flexibility number greater than its coloring number? In this paper, we show that the list flexibility number of any complete multipartite graph GG is at most the coloring number of GG. We also initiate the study of list epsilon flexibility functions of complete bipartite graphs which was first suggested by Kaul, Mathew, Mudrock, and Pelsmajer in 2024. Specifically, we completely determine the list epsilon flexibility function of Km,nK_{m,n} when m{1,2}m \in \{1,2\} and establish some additional bounds for small mm. Our proofs reveal a connection to list coloring complete bipartite graphs with asymmetric list sizes which is a topic that was explored by Alon, Cambie, and Kang in 2021.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2412.15927,
  title  = {Maximizing Satisfied Vertex Requests in List Coloring},
  author = {Timothy Bennett and Michael C. Bowdoin and Haley Broadus and Daniel Hodgins and Jeffrey A. Mudrock and Adam K. Nusair and Gabriel Sharbel and Joshua Silverman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2412.15927},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

20 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-28T20:43:52.649Z