English

New expressions for order polynomials and chromatic polynomials

Combinatorics 2019-09-06 v1

Abstract

Let G=(V,E)G=(V,E) be a simple graph with V={1,2,,n}V=\{1,2,\cdots,n\} and χ(G,x)\chi(G,x) be its chromatic polynomial. For an ordering π=(v1,v2,,vn)\pi=(v_1,v_2,\cdots,v_n) of elements of VV, let δG(π)\delta_G(\pi) be the number of ii's, where 1in11\le i\le n-1, with either vi<vi+1v_i<v_{i+1} or vivi+1Ev_iv_{i+1}\in E. Let W(G){\cal W}(G) be the set of subsets {a,b,c}\{a,b,c\} of VV, where a<b<ca<b<c, which induces a subgraph with acac as its only edge. We show that W(G)={\cal W}(G)=\emptyset if and only if (1)nχ(G,x)=π(x+δG(π)n)(-1)^n\chi(G,-x)=\sum_{\pi} {x+\delta_G(\pi)\choose n}, where the sum runs over all n!n! orderings π\pi of VV. To prove this result, we establish an analogous result on order polynomials of posets and apply Stanley's work on the relation between chromatic polynomials and order polynomials.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1909.02310,
  title  = {New expressions for order polynomials and chromatic polynomials},
  author = {Fengming Dong},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1909.02310},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

33 pages and 5 figures. Will appear in JGT

R2 v1 2026-06-23T11:06:33.557Z