Document Type

Article

Language

English

Publication Date

1-2017

Publisher

Elsevier

Source Publication

Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B

Source ISSN

0095-8956

Abstract

For graphs G and H, an H-coloring of G is an adjacency preserving map from the vertices of G to the vertices of H. H-colorings generalize such notions as independent sets and proper colorings in graphs. There has been much recent research on the extremal question of finding the graph(s) among a fixed family that maximize or minimize the number of H-colorings. In this paper, we prove several results in this area.

First, we find a class of graphs H with the property that for each H∈H, the n-vertex tree that minimizes the number of H -colorings is the path Pn. We then present a new proof of a theorem of Sidorenko, valid for large n, that for every H the star K1,n−1 is the n-vertex tree that maximizes the number of H-colorings. Our proof uses a stability technique which we also use to show that for any non-regular H (and certain regular H ) the complete bipartite graph K2,n−2 maximizes the number of H-colorings of n -vertex 2-connected graphs. Finally, we show that the cycle Cn has the most proper q-colorings among all n-vertex 2-connected graphs.

Comments

Accepted version. Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B, Vol. 122 (January, 2017): 800-814. DOI. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. Used with permission.

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication.

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