Skip to main content
Log in

Complete Complexity Dichotomy for \(\boldsymbol 7 \)-Edge Forbidden Subgraphs in the Edge Coloring Problem

  • Published:
Journal of Applied and Industrial Mathematics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The edge coloring problem for a graph is to minimize the number of colors that are sufficient to color all edges of the graph so that all adjacent edges receive distinct colors. The computational complexity of the problem is known for all graph classes defined by forbidden subgraphs with at most \(6\) edges. We improve this result and obtain a complete complexity classification of the edge coloring problem for all sets of prohibitions each of which has at most \(7\) edges.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  1. M. R. Garey and D. S. Johnson, Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness (Freeman, San Francisco, 1979; Mir, Moscow, 1982).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. I. Holyer, “The NP-Completeness of Edge-Coloring,” SIAM J. Comput. 10 (4), 718–720 (1981).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  3. V. G. Vizing, “On Estimation of the Chromatic Index of a \(p \)-Graph,” in Discrete Analysis Vol. 3 (Inst. Mat. Sibir. Otd. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Novosibirsk, 1964), pp. 25–30.

  4. D. Král’, J. Kratochvíl, Z. Tuza, and G. J. Woeginger, “Complexity of Coloring Graphs without Forbidden Induced Subgraphs,” in Proceedings of 27th International Workshop on Graph-Theoretic Concepts of Computing Sciences, Boltenhagen, Germany, June 14–16, 2001 (Springer, Heidelberg, 2001), pp. 254–262 [Lecture Notes in Computer Sciences, Vol. 2204].

  5. V. V. Lozin and D. S. Malyshev, “Vertex Coloring of Graphs with Few Obstructions,” Discrete Appl. Math. 216, 273–280 (2017).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. C. T. Hoàng and D. Lazzarato, “Polynomial-Time Algorithms for Minimum Weighted Colorings of \((P_5,\overline {P}_5) \)-Free Graphs and Similar Graph Classes,” Discrete Appl. Math. 186, 105–111 (2015).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. T. Karthick, F. Maffray, and L. Pastor, “Polynomial Cases for the Vertex Coloring Problem,” Algorithmica 81 (3), 1053–1074 (2017).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  8. D. S. Malyshev, “The Coloring Problem for Classes with Two Small Obstructions,” Optim. Lett. 8 (8), 2261–2270 (2014).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  9. D. S. Malyshev, “Two Cases of Polynomial-Time Solvability for the Coloring Problem,” J. Combin. Optim. 31 (2), 833–845 (2016).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. D. S. Malyshev, “The Weighted Coloring Problem for Two Graph Classes Characterized by Small Forbidden Induced Structures,” Discrete Appl. Math. 47, 423–432 (2018).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  11. D. S. Malyshev and O. O. Lobanova, “Two Complexity Results for the Vertex Coloring Problem,” Discrete Appl. Math. 219, 158–166 (2017).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  12. D. S. Malyshev, “Polynomial-Time Approximation Algorithms for the Coloring Problem in Some Cases,” J. Combin. Optim. 33, 809–813 (2017).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  13. K. Cameron, S. Huang, I. Penev, and V. Sivaraman, “The Class of \((P_7, C_4, C_5)\)-Free Graphs: Decomposition, Algorithms, and \(\chi \)-Boundedness,” J. Graph Theory 93 (4), 503–552 (2020).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  14. K. Cameron, M. da Silva, S. Huang, and K. Vuskovic, “Structure and Algorithms for (Cap, Even Hole)-Free Graphs,” Discrete Math. 341, 463–473 (2018).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  15. Y. Dai, A. Foley, and C. T. Hoàng, “On Coloring a Class of Claw-Free Graphs: To the Memory of Frédéric Maffray,” Electron. Notes Theor. Comput. Sci. 346, 369–377 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. D. J. Fraser, A. M. Hamela, C. T. Hoàng, K. Holmes, and T. P. La-Mantia, “Characterizations of \((4K_1\), \(C_4,C_5) \)-Free Graphs,” Discrete Appl. Math. 231, 166–174 (2017).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  17. P. Golovach, M. Johnson, D. Paulusma, and J. Song, “A Survey on the Computational Complexity of Coloring Graphs with Forbidden Subgraphs,” J. Graph Theory 84, 331–363 (2017).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  18. H. J. Broersma, P. A. Golovach, D. Paulusma, and J. Song, “Updating the Complexity Status of Coloring Graphs without a Fixed Induced Linear Forest,” Theor. Comput. Sci. 414 (1), 9–19 (2012).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  19. P. A. Golovach, D. Paulusma, and J. Song, “\(4 \)-Coloring \(H \)-Free Graphs when \(H \) Is Small,” Discrete Appl. Math. 161 (1–2), 140–150 (2013).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  20. F. Bonomo, M. Chudnovsky, P. Maceli, O. Schaudt, M. Stein, and M. Zhong, “Three-Coloring and List Three-Coloring of Graphs without Induced Paths on Seven Vertices,” Combinatorica 38 (4), 779–801 (2018).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  21. S. Spirkl, M. Chudnovsky, and M. Zhong, “Four-Coloring \(P_6 \)-Free Graphs,” in Proceedings of 30th Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, San Diego, USA, January 6–9, 2019 (SIAM, Philadelphia, PA, 2019), pp. 1239–1256.

  22. C. T. Hoàng, M. Kamiński, V. V. Lozin, J. Sawada, and X. Shu, “Deciding \(k \)-Colorability of \(P_5 \)-Free Graphs in Polynomial Time,” Algorithmica 57 (1), 74–81 (2010).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  23. S. Huang, “Improved Complexity Results on \(k \)-Coloring \(P_t \)-Free Graphs,” European J. Combin. 51, 336–346 (2016).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  24. D. S. Malyshev, “The Complexity of the \(3 \)-Colorability Problem in the Absence of a Pair of Small Forbidden Induced Subgraphs,” Discrete Math. 338 (11), 1860–1865 (2015).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  25. D. S. Malyshev, “The Complexity of the Vertex \(3 \)-Colorability Problem for Some Hereditary Classes Defined by \(5 \)-Vertex Forbidden Induced Subgraphs,” Graphs Combin. 33 (4), 1009–1022 (2017).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  26. D. V. Sirotkin and D. S. Malyshev, “On the Complexity of the Vertex \(3 \)-Coloring Problem for the Hereditary Graph Classes with Forbidden Subgraphs of Small Size,” J. Appl. Ind. Math. 12 (4), 759–769 (2018).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  27. E. Galby, P. T. Lima, D. Paulusma, and B. Ries, “Classifying \(k \)-Edge Coloring for \(H \)-Free Graphs,” Inform. Process. Lett. 146, 39–43 (2019).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  28. D. S. Malyshev, “The Complexity of the Edge \(3 \)-Colorability Problem for Graphs without Two Induced Fragments Each on at Most Six Vertices,” Sibir. Elektron. Mat. Izv. 11, 811–822 (2014).

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  29. D. S. Malyshev, “Complexity Classification of the Edge Coloring Problem for a Family of Graph Classes,” Discrete Math. Appl. 27 (2), 97–101 (2017).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  30. A. Schrijver, Combinatorial Optimization—Polyhedra and Efficiency (Springer, Heidelberg, 2003).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  31. D. König, “Gráfok és alkalmazásuk a determinánsok és a halmazok elméletére,” Matematikai és Természettudományi Értesitö 34, 104–119 (1916) [in Hungarian].

  32. B. Courcelle, J. Makowsky, and U. Rotics, “Linear Time Solvable Optimization Problems on Graphs of Bounded Clique-Width,” Theory Comput. Syst. 33 (2), 125–150 (2000).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  33. R. Boliac and V. V. Lozin, “On the Clique-Width of Graphs in Hereditary Classes,” in Algorithms and Computation (Proceedings of 13th International Symposium, Vancouver, Canada, November 21–23, 2002) (Springer, Heidelberg, 2002), pp. 44–54 [Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 2518].

  34. F. Gurski and E. Wanke, “Line Graphs of Bounded Clique-Width,” Discrete Math. 307 (22), 2734–2754 (2007).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  35. D. Kobler and D. Rotics, “Edge Dominating Set and Colorings on Graphs with Fixed Clique-Width,” Discrete Appl. Math. 126 (2–3), 197–223 (2003).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  36. V. V. Lozin and M. Kamiński, “Coloring Edges and Vertices of Graphs without Short or Long Cycles,” Contrib. Discrete Math. 2 (1), 61–66 (2007).

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

The author was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project no. 19–71–00005).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. S. Malyshev.

Additional information

Translated by Ya.A. Kopylov

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Malyshev, D.S. Complete Complexity Dichotomy for \(\boldsymbol 7 \)-Edge Forbidden Subgraphs in the Edge Coloring Problem. J. Appl. Ind. Math. 14, 706–721 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1990478920040092

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1990478920040092

Keywords

Navigation