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arXiv · 1610.07219

Maximizing the number of $x$-colorings of $4$-chromatic graphs

Aysel Erey
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Abstract

Let $\mathcal{C}_4(n)$ be the family of all connected $4$-chromatic graphs of order $n$. Given an integer $x\geq 4$, we consider the problem of finding the maximum number of $x$-colorings of a graph in $\mathcal{C}_4(n)$. It was conjectured that the maximum number of $x$-colorings is equal to $(x)_{\downarrow 4}(x-1)^{n-4}$ and the extremal graphs are those which have clique number $4$ and size $n+2$. In this article, we reduce this problem to a \textit{finite} family of graphs. We show that there exist a finite family $\mathcal{F}$ of connected $4$-chromatic graphs such that if the number of $x$-colorings of every graph $G$ in $\mathcal{F}$ is less than $(x)_{\downarrow 4}(x-1)^{|V(G)|-4}$ then the conjecture holds to be true.

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Aysel Erey. 2016-10-23. Maximizing the number of $x$-colorings of $4$-chromatic graphs. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.disc.2017.09.028

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