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The problem \textsc{Token Jumping} asks whether, given a graph $G$ and two independent sets of \emph{tokens} $I$ and $J$ of $G$, we can transform $I$ into $J$ by changing the position of a single token in each step and having an independent set of tokens throughout. We show that there is a polynomial-time algorithm that, given an instance of \textsc{Token Jumping}, computes an equivalent instance of size $O(g^2 + gk + k^2)$, where $g$ is the genus of the input graph and $k$ is the size of the independent sets., Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure

We study the problem of finding homomorphisms into odd cycles from planar graphs with high odd-girth. The Jaeger-Zhang conjecture states that every planar graph of odd-girth at least $4k+1$ admits a homomorphism to the odd cycle $C_{2k+1}$. The $k=1$ case is the well-known Gr\"otzsch's $3$-coloring theorem. For general $k$, in 2013 Lov\'asz, Thomassen, Wu, and Zhang showed that it suffices to have odd-girth at least $6k+1$. Improvements are known for $C_5$ and $C_7$ in [Combinatorica 2017, SIDMA 2020, Combinatorica 2022]. For $C_9$ we improve this hypothesis by showing that it suffices to have odd-girth 23. Our main tool is a variation on the potential method applied to modular orientations. This allows more flexibility when seeking reducible configurations. The same techniques also prove some results on circular coloring of signed planar graphs., Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures

Let $G$ be a planar graph and $I_s$ and $I_t$ be two independent sets in $G$, each of size $k$. We begin with a "token" on each vertex of $I_s$ and seek to move all tokens to $I_t$, by repeated "token jumping", removing a single token from one vertex and placing it on another vertex. We require that each intermediate arrangement of tokens again specifies an independent set of size $k$. Given $G$, $I_s$, and $I_t$, we ask whether there exists a sequence of token jumps that transforms $I_s$ to $I_t$. When $k$ is part of the input, this problem is known to be PSPACE-complete. However, it was shown by Ito, Kami\'nski, and Ono to be fixed-parameter tractable. That is, when $k$ is fixed, the problem can be solved in time polynomial in the order of $G$. Here we strengthen the upper bound on the running time in terms of $k$ by showing that the problem has a kernel of size linear in $k$. More precisely, we transform an arbitrary input problem on a planar graph into an equivalent problem on a (planar) graph with order $O(k)$., Comment: There is an error in the proof of Claim 7. This general approach can be salvaged to give a kernel that is quadratic in k (rather than linear). This has been done, with two coauthors, in the more general context of graphs on arbitrary surfaces in arXiv:2408.04743 [cs.DS]

For a graph $G$ and a list assignment $L$ with $|L(v)|=k$ for all $v$, an $L$-packing consists of $L$-colorings $\varphi_1,\cdots,\varphi_k$ such that $\varphi_i(v)\ne\varphi_j(v)$ for all $v$ and all distinct $i,j\in\{1,\ldots,k\}$. Let $\chi^{\star}_{\ell}(G)$ denote the smallest $k$ such that $G$ has an $L$-packing for every $L$ with $|L(v)|=k$ for all $v$. Let $\mathcal{P}_k$ denote the set of all planar graphs with girth at least $k$. We show that (i) $\chi^{\star}_{\ell}(G)\le 8$ for all $G\in \mathcal{P}_3$ and (ii) $\chi^{\star}_{\ell}(G)\le 5$ for all $G\in \mathcal{P}_4$ and (iii) $\chi^{\star}_{\ell}(G)\le 4$ for all $G\in \mathcal{P}_5$. Part (i) makes progress on a problem of Cambie, Cames van Batenburg, Davies, and Kang. We also construct outerplanar graphs $G$ such that $\chi^{\star}_{\ell}(G)=4$, which matches the known upper bound $\chi^{\star}_{\ell}(G)\le 4$ for all outerplanar graphs. Finally, we consider the analogue of $\chi^{\star}_{\ell}$ for correspondence coloring, $\chi^{\star}_c$. In fact, all bounds stated above for $\chi^{\star}_{\ell}$ also hold for $\chi^{\star}_c$., Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures

Wegner conjectured that if $G$ is a planar graph with maximum degree $\Delta\ge 8$, then $\chi(G^2)\le \left\lfloor \frac32\Delta\right\rfloor +1$. This problem has received much attention, but remains open for all $\Delta\ge 8$. Here we prove an analogous bound on $\omega(G^2)$: If $G$ is a plane graph with $\Delta(G)\ge 36$, then $\omega(G^2)\le \lfloor\frac32\Delta(G)\rfloor+1$. In fact, this is a corollary of the following lemma, which is our main result. If $G$ is a plane graph with $\Delta(G)\ge 19$ and $S$ is a maximal clique in $G^2$ with $|S|\ge \Delta(G)+20$, then there exist $x,y,z\in V(G)$ such that $S=\{w:|N[w]\cap\{x,y,z\}|\ge 2\}$., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 2nd version incorporates minor reviewer feedback, to appear in European Journal of Combinatorics

Hocquard, Kim, and Pierron constructed, for every even integer $D\ge 2$, a 2-degenerate graph $G_D$ with maximum degree $D$ such that $\omega(G_D^2)=\frac52D$. We prove for (a) all 2-degenerate graphs $G$ and (b) all graphs $G$ with $\mbox{mad}(G)<4$, upper bounds on the clique number $\omega(G^2)$ of $G^2$ that match the lower bound given by this construction, up to small additive constants. We show that if $G$ is 2-degenerate with maximum degree $D$, then $\omega(G^2)\le \frac52D+72$ (with $\omega(G^2)\le \frac52D+60$ when $D$ is sufficiently large). And if $G$ has $\mbox{mad}(G)<4$ and maximum degree $D$, then $\omega(G^2)\le \frac52D+532$. Thus, the construction of Hocquard et al. is essentially best possible. Our proofs introduce a "token passing" technique to derive crucial information about non-adjacencies in $G$ of vertices that are adjacent in $G^2$. This is a powerful technique for working with such graphs that has not previously appeared in the literature., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures; final version incorporates minor reviewer feedback; to appear in J. Graph Theory

Let $G$ be a graph and $k$ be a positive integer, and let $Kc(G, k)$ denote the number of Kempe equivalence classes for the $k$-colorings of $G$. In 2006, Mohar noted that $Kc(G, k) = 1$ if $G$ is bipartite. As a generalization, we show that $Kc(G, k) = 1$ if $G$ is formed from a bipartite graph by adding any number of edges less than $\binom{\lceil k/2\rceil}2+\binom{\lfloor k/2\rfloor}2$. We show that our result is tight (up to lower order terms) by constructing, for each $k \geq 8$, a graph $G$ formed from a bipartite graph by adding $(k^2+8k-45+1)/4$ edges such that $Kc(G, k) \geq 2$. This refutes a recent conjecture of Higashitani--Matsumoto., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures; 2nd version incorporates reviewer feedback

For a graph $G$ and $t,k\in\mathbb{Z}^+$ a \emph{$t$-tone $k$-coloring} of $G$ is a function $f:V(G)\rightarrow \binom{[k]}{t}$ such that $|f(v)\cap f(w)| < d(v,w)$ for all distinct $v,w \in V(G)$. The \emph{$t$-tone chromatic number} of $G$, denoted $\tau_t(G)$, is the minimum $k$ such that $G$ is $t$-tone $k$-colorable. For small values of $t$, we prove sharp or nearly sharp upper bounds on the $t$-tone chromatic number of various classes of sparse graphs. In particular, we determine $\tau_2(G)$ exactly when $\textrm{mad}(G) < 12/5$ and bound $\tau_2(G)$, up to a small additive constant, when $G$ is outerplanar. We also determine $\tau_t(C_n)$ exactly when $t\in\{3,4,5\}$., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, version 2 corrects a few typos

A proper coloring of a graph is \emph{conflict-free} if, for every non-isolated vertex, some color is used exactly once on its neighborhood. Caro, Petru\v{s}evski, and \v{S}krekovski proved that every graph $G$ has a proper conflict-free coloring with at most $5\Delta(G)/2$ colors and conjectured that $\Delta(G)+1$ colors suffice for every connected graph $G$ with $\Delta(G)\ge 3$. Our first main result is that even for list-coloring, $\left\lceil 1.6550826\Delta(G)+\sqrt{\Delta(G)}\right\rceil$ colors suffice for every graph $G$ with $\Delta(G)\ge 10^{8}$; we also prove slightly weaker bounds for all graphs with $\Delta(G)\ge 750$. These results follow from our more general framework on proper conflict-free list-coloring of a pair consisting of a graph $G$ and a "conflict" hypergraph ${\mathcal H}$. As another corollary of our results in this general framework, every graph has a proper $(\sqrt{30}+o(1))\Delta(G)^{1.5}$-list-coloring such that every bi-chromatic component is a path on at most three vertices, where the number of colors is optimal up to a constant factor. Our proof uses a fairly new type of recursive counting argument called Rosenfeld counting, which is a variant of the Lov\'{a}sz Local Lemma or entropy compression. We also prove an asymptotically optimal result for a fractional analogue of our general framework for proper conflict-free coloring for pairs of a graph and a conflict hypergraph. A corollary states that every graph $G$ has a fractional $(1+o(1))\Delta(G)$-coloring such that every fractionally bi-chromatic component has at most two vertices. In particular, it implies that the fractional analogue of the conjecture of Caro et al.\ holds asymptotically in a strong sense.

We survey work on coloring, list coloring, and painting squares of graphs; in particular, we consider strong edge-coloring. We focus primarily on planar graphs and other sparse classes of graphs., Comment: 32 pages, 13 figures and tables, plus 195-entry bibliography, comments are welcome, published as a Dynamic Survey in Electronic Journal of Combinatorics

A \emph{coloring} of a graph $G$ is a map $f:V(G)\to \mathbb{Z}^+$ such that $f(v)\ne f(w)$ for all $vw\in E(G)$. A coloring $f$ is an \emph{odd-sum} coloring if $\sum_{w\in N[v]}f(w)$ is odd, for each vertex $v\in V(G)$. The \emph{odd-sum chromatic number} of a graph $G$, denoted $\chi_{os}(G)$, is the minimum number of colors used (that is, the minimum size of the range) in an odd-sum coloring of $G$. Caro, Petru\v{s}evski, and \v{S}krekovski showed, among other results, that $\chi_{os}(G)$ is well-defined for every finite graph $G$ and, in fact, $\chi_{os}(G)\le 2\chi(G)$. Thus, $\chi_{os}(G)\le 8$ for every planar graph $G$ (by the 4 Color Theorem), $\chi_{os}(G)\le 6$ for every triangle-free planar graph $G$ (by Gr\"{o}tzsch's Theorem), and $\chi_{os}(G)\le 4$ for every bipartite graph. Caro et al. asked, for every even $\Delta\ge 4$, whether there exists $g_{\Delta}$ such that if $G$ is planar with maximum degree $\Delta$ and girth at least $g_{\Delta}$ then $\chi_{os}(G)\le 5$. They also asked, for every even $\Delta\ge 4$, whether there exists $g_{\Delta}$ such that if $G$ is planar and bipartite with maximum degree $\Delta$ and girth at least $g_{\Delta}$ then $\chi_{os}(G)\le 3$. We answer both questions negatively. We also refute a conjecture they made, resolve one further problem they posed, and make progress on another., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Discrete Applied Math

The coloring reconfiguration graph $\mathcal{C}_k(G)$ has as its vertex set all the proper $k$-colorings of $G$, and two vertices in $\mathcal{C}_k(G)$ are adjacent if their corresponding $k$-colorings differ on a single vertex. Cereceda conjectured that if an $n$-vertex graph $G$ is $d$-degenerate and $k\geq d+2$, then the diameter of $\mathcal{C}_k(G)$ is $O(n^2)$. Bousquet and Heinrich proved that if $G$ is planar and bipartite, then the diameter of $\mathcal{C}_5(G)$ is $O(n^2)$. (This proves Cereceda's Conjecture for every such graph with degeneracy 3.) They also highlighted the particular case of Cereceda's Conjecture when $G$ is planar and has no 3-cycles. As a partial solution to this problem, we show that the diameter of $\mathcal{C}_5(G)$ is $O(n^2)$ for every planar graph $G$ with no 3-cycles and no 5-cycles., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, corrects a few errors in the previous version

The reconfiguration graph $\mathcal{C}_k(G)$ for the $k$-colourings of a graph $G$ has a vertex for each proper $k$-colouring of $G$, and two vertices of $\mathcal{C}_k(G)$ are adjacent precisely when those $k$-colourings differ on a single vertex of $G$. Much work has focused on bounding the maximum value of ${\rm{diam}}~\mathcal{C}_k(G)$ over all $n$-vertex graphs $G$. We consider the analogous problems for list colourings and for correspondence colourings. We conjecture that if $L$ is a list-assignment for a graph $G$ with $|L(v)|\ge d(v)+2$ for all $v\in V(G)$, then ${\rm{diam}}~\mathcal{C}_L(G)\le n(G)+\mu(G)$. We also conjecture that if $(L,H)$ is a correspondence cover for a graph $G$ with $|L(v)|\ge d(v)+2$ for all $v\in V(G)$, then ${\rm{diam}}~\mathcal{C}_{(L,H)}(G)\le n(G)+\tau(G)$. (Here $\mu(G)$ and $\tau(G)$ denote the matching number and vertex cover number of $G$.) For every graph $G$, we give constructions showing that both conjectures are best possible. Our first main result proves the upper bounds (for the list and correspondence versions, respectively) ${\rm{diam}}~\mathcal{C}_L(G)\le n(G)+2\mu(G)$ and ${\rm{diam}}~\mathcal{C}_{(L,H)}(G)\le n(G)+2\tau(G)$. Our second main result proves that both conjectured bounds hold, whenever all $v$ satisfy $|L(v)|\ge 2d(v)+1$. We conclude by proving one or both conjectures for various classes of graphs such as complete bipartite graphs, subcubic graphs, cactuses, and graphs with bounded maximum average degree., Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures; to appear in European J. Combinatorics

A proper coloring of a graph is odd if every non-isolated vertex has some color that appears an odd number of times on its neighborhood. This notion was recently introduced by Petru\v{s}evski and \v{S}krekovski, who proved that every planar graph admits an odd $9$-coloring; they also conjectured that every planar graph admits an odd $5$-coloring. Shortly after, this conjecture was confirmed for planar graphs of girth at least seven by Cranston; outerplanar graphs by Caro, Petru\v{s}evski, and \v{S}krekovski. Building on the work of Caro, Petru\v{s}evski, and \v{S}krekovski, Petr and Portier then further proved that every planar graph admits an odd $8$-coloring. In this note we prove that every 1-planar graph admits an odd $23$-coloring, where a graph is 1-planar if it can be drawn in the plane so that each edge is crossed by at most one other edge., Comment: Third version improves upper bound from 31 to 23

Fix a graph $G$, a list-assignment $L$ for $G$, and $L$-colorings $\alpha$ and $\beta$. An $L$-recoloring sequence, starting from $\alpha$, recolors a single vertex at each step, so that each resulting intermediate coloring is a proper $L$-coloring. An $L$-recoloring sequence transforms $\alpha$ to $\beta$ if its initial coloring is $\alpha$ and its final coloring is $\beta$. We prove there exists an $L$-recoloring sequence that transforms $\alpha$ to $\beta$ and recolors each vertex at most a constant number of times if (i) $G$ is triangle-free and planar and $L$ is a 7-assignment, or (ii) $\mathrm{mad}(G)<17/5$ and $L$ is a 6-assignment or (iii) $\mathrm{mad}(G)<22/9$ and $L$ is a 4-assignment. Parts (i) and (ii) confirm conjectures of Dvo\v{r}\'{a}k and Feghali., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; to appear in European J. Combinatorics

A proper coloring of a graph is called \emph{odd} if every non-isolated vertex has some color that appears an odd number of times on its neighborhood. The smallest number of colors that admits an odd coloring of a graph $G$ is denoted $\chi_o(G)$. This notion was introduced by Petru\v{s}evski and \v{S}krekovski, who proved that if $G$ is planar then $\chi_o(G)\le 9$; they also conjectured that $\chi_o(G)\le 5$. For a positive real number $\alpha$, we consider the maximum value of $\chi_o(G)$ over all graphs $G$ with maximum average degree less than $\alpha$; we denote this value by $\chi_o(\mathcal{G}_{\alpha})$. We note that $\chi_o(\mathcal{G}_{\alpha})$ is undefined for all $\alpha\ge 4$. In contrast, for each $\alpha\in[0,4)$, we give a (nearly sharp) upper bound on $\chi_o(\mathcal{G}_{\alpha})$. Finally, we prove $\chi_o(\mathcal{G}_{20/7})= 5$ and $\chi_o(\mathcal{G}_3)= 6$. Both of these results are sharp., Comment: 8 pages

An $\alpha,\beta$-Kempe swap in a properly colored graph interchanges the colors on some component of the subgraph induced by colors $\alpha$ and $\beta$. Two $k$-colorings of a graph are $k$-Kempe equivalent if we can form one from the other by a sequence of Kempe swaps (never using more than $k$ colors). Las Vergnas and Meyniel showed that if a graph is $(k-1)$-degenerate, then each pair of its $k$-colorings are $k$-Kempe equivalent. Mohar conjectured the same conclusion for connected $k$-regular graphs. This was proved for $k=3$ by Feghali, Johnson, and Paulusma (with a single exception $K_2\square K_3$, also called the 3-prism) and for $k\ge 4$ by Bonamy, Bousquet, Feghali, and Johnson. In this paper we prove an analogous result for list-coloring. For a list-assignment $L$ and an $L$-coloring $\varphi$, a Kempe swap is called $L$-valid for $\varphi$ if performing the Kempe swap yields another $L$-coloring. Two $L$-colorings are called $L$-equivalent if we can form one from the other by a sequence of $L$-valid Kempe swaps. Let $G$ be a connected $k$-regular graph with $k\ge 3$. We prove that if $L$ is a $k$-assignment, then all $L$-colorings are $L$-equivalent (again with a single exception $K_2 \square K_3$). When $k\ge 4$, the proof is completely self-contained, so implies an alternate proof of the result of Bonamy et al. Our proofs rely on the following key lemma, which may be of independent interest. Let $H$ be a graph such that for every degree-assignment $L_H$ all $L_H$-colorings are $L_H$-equivalent. If $G$ is a connected graph that contains $H$ as an induced subgraph, then for every degree-assignment $L_G$ for $G$ all $L_G$-colorings are $L_G$-equivalent., Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures; second version extends the main result to cliques, which were previously excluded; third version incorporates reviewer feedback; to appear in Combinatorica

A strong edge-coloring $\varphi$ of a graph $G$ assigns colors to edges of $G$ such that $\varphi(e_1)\ne \varphi(e_2)$ whenever $e_1$ and $e_2$ are at distance no more than 1. It is equivalent to a proper vertex coloring of the square of the line graph of $G$. In 1990 Faudree, Schelp, Gy\'arf\'as, and Tuza conjectured that if $G$ is a bipartite graph with maximum degree 3 and sufficiently large girth, then $G$ has a strong edge-coloring with at most 5 colors. In 2021 this conjecture was disproved by Lu\v{z}ar, Ma\v{c}ajov\'{a}, \v{S}koviera, and Sot\'{a}k. Here we give an alternative construction to disprove the conjecture., Comment: 3.5 pages, 1 figure; second version extends the construction from the 3-regular case to the $k$-regular case, for each integer $k\ge 2$; third version incorporates referee feedback; to appear in Discrete Applied Math

A set of geometric graphs is {\em geometric-packable} if it can be asymptotically packed into every sequence of drawings of the complete graph $K_n$. For example, the set of geometric triangles is geometric-packable due to the existence of Steiner Triple Systems. When $G$ is the $4$-cycle (or $4$-cycle with a chord), we show that the set of plane drawings of $G$ is geometric-packable. In contrast, the analogous statement is false when $G$ is nearly any other planar Hamiltonian graph (with at most 3 possible exceptions). A convex geometric graph is {\em convex-packable} if it can be asymptotically packed into the convex drawings of the complete graphs. For each planar Hamiltonian graph $G$, we determine whether or not a plane $G$ is convex-packable. Many of our proofs explicitly construct these packings; in these cases, the packings exhibit a symmetry that mirrors the vertex transitivity of $K_n$.

For a list assignment $L$ and an $L$-coloring $\varphi$, a Kempe swap in $\varphi$ is \emph{$L$-valid} if it yields another $L$-coloring. Two $L$-colorings are \emph{$L$-equivalent} if we can form one from another by a sequence of $L$-valid Kempe swaps. And a graph $G$ is \emph{$L$-swappable} if every two of its $L$-colorings are $L$-equivalent. We consider $L$-swappability of line graphs of planar graphs with large maximum degree. Let $G$ be a planar graph with $\Delta(G)\ge 9$ and let $H$ be the line graph of $G$. If $L$ is a $(\Delta(G)+1)$-assignment to $H$, then $H$ is $L$-swappable. Let $G$ be a planar graph with $\Delta(G)\ge 15$ and let $H$ be the line graph of $G$. If $L$ is a $\Delta(G)$-assignment to $H$, then $H$ is $L$-swappable. The first result is analogous to one for $L$-choosability by Borodin, which was later strengthened by Bonamy. The second result is analogous to another for $L$-choosability by Borodin, which was later strengthened by Borodin, Kostochka, and Woodall., Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, 2 page appendix; to appear in Discrete Math (special issue in honor of Landon Rabern)

The planar Turan number $\textrm{ex}_{\mathcal{P}}(C_{\ell},n)$ is the largest number of edges in an $n$-vertex planar graph with no $\ell$-cycle. For $\ell\in \{3,4,5,6\}$, upper bounds on $\textrm{ex}_{\mathcal{P}}(C_{\ell},n)$ are known that hold with equality infinitely often. Ghosh, Gy\"{o}ri, Martin, Paulo, and Xiao [arxiv:2004.14094] conjectured an upper bound on $\textrm{ex}_{\mathcal{P}}(C_{\ell},n)$ for every $\ell\ge 7$ and $n$ sufficiently large. We disprove this conjecture for every $\ell\ge 11$. We also propose two revised versions of the conjecture., Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures