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First-Fit colorings of graphs with no cycles of a prescribed even length

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Abstract

The First-Fit (or Grundy) chromatic number of a graph G denoted by \(\chi _{{_\mathsf{FF}}}(G)\), is the maximum number of colors used by the First-Fit (greedy) coloring algorithm when applied to G. In this paper we first show that any graph G contains a bipartite subgraph of Grundy number \(\lfloor \chi _{{_\mathsf{FF}}}(G) /2 \rfloor +1\). Using this result we prove that for every \(t\ge 2\) there exists a real number \(c>0\) such that in every graph G on n vertices and without cycles of length 2t, any First-Fit coloring of G uses at most \(cn^{1/t}\) colors. It is noted that for \(t=2\) this bound is the best possible. A compactness conjecture is also proposed concerning the First-Fit chromatic number involving the even girth of graphs.

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Correspondence to Manouchehr Zaker.

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Zaker, M., Soltani, H. First-Fit colorings of graphs with no cycles of a prescribed even length. J Comb Optim 32, 775–783 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10878-015-9900-z

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