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On 1-improper 2-coloring of sparse graphs. (English) Zbl 1281.05060

Summary: A graph \(G\) is \((1,1)\)-colorable if its vertices can be partitioned into subsets \(V_1\) and \(V_2\) such that every vertex in \(G[V_i]\) has degree at most 1 for each \(i\in\{1,2\}\). We prove that every graph with maximum average degree at most \(\frac{14}{5}\) is \((1,1)\)-colorable. In particular, it follows that every planar graph with girth at least 7 is (\(1,1\))-colorable. On the other hand, we construct graphs with maximum average degree arbitrarily close to \(\frac{14}{5}\) (from above) that are not \((1,1)\)-colorable.
In fact, we establish the best possible sufficient condition for the \((1,1)\)-colorability of a graph \(G\) in terms of the minimum, \(\rho_G\), of \(\rho_G(S)=7| S| -5| E(G[S])|\) over all subsets \(S\) of \(V(G)\). Namely, every graph \(G\) with \(\rho_G\geq 0\) is \((1,1)\)-colorable. On the other hand, we construct infinitely many non-\((1,1)\)-colorable graphs \(G\) with \(\rho_G=-1\). This solves a related conjecture of A. Kurek and A. Ruciński from [J. Graph Theory 18, No. 1, 73–81 (1994; Zbl 0790.05027)].

MSC:

05C15 Coloring of graphs and hypergraphs
05C42 Density (toughness, etc.)
05C10 Planar graphs; geometric and topological aspects of graph theory
05C35 Extremal problems in graph theory

Citations:

Zbl 0790.05027
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References:

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