A {\it threshold graph} is a graph that can be constructed from the one-vertex graph by repeatedly adding either a dominating vertex or an isolated vertex. Motivated by an induced Ramsey-type problem for this class, we define $r'_2(s)$ to be the minimum integer $n$ such that every $n$-vertex graph contains an induced threshold graph on $s$ vertices. We establish exponential upper and lower bounds for $r'_2(s)$ and determine its exact values for $s\in\{3,4,5,6\}$. To study this problem from an edge-coloring perspective, we use the notion of an orderable coloring, introduced by Richer [{\it J. Combin. Theory Ser. B}, 80(1) (2000), 172--177]. An edge-colored graph is {\it orderable} if its vertices can be ordered so that, for each vertex, all edges from it to later vertices have the same color. Equivalently, $r'_2(s)$ is the minimum $n$ such that every $2$-edge-coloring of $K_n$ contains an orderable $K_s$. We also determine the exact value of the unordered canonical Ramsey number $CR(s, 3)$ for all $s \ge 3$, where $CR(s,3)$ denotes the minimum integer $n$ such that every edge-coloring of $K_n$ contains either an orderable $K_s$ or a rainbow $K_3$. More generally, for graphs $G$ and $H$, we study $r'_2(G)$, the corresponding $2$-color Ramsey number for an orderable $G$, and $CR(G,H)$, where the alternative is a rainbow $H$. For complete bipartite graphs, we prove that for every fixed $s$, $r'_2(K_{s,t}) = CR(K_{s,t}, K_3)= \left(\frac{2^s}{s+1}+o(1)\right)t$ as $t\to\infty$. For $s\in \{2,3\}$, we further determine the exact values of these parameters for infinitely many $t$, using constructions arising from strongly regular graphs, Hadamard matrices and conference matrices.
The vertex arboricity $\mathrm{va}(G)$ of a multigraph $G$ is the minimum number $k$ for which $V(G)$ can be partitioned into $k$ subsets, each of which induces an acyclic subgraph of $G$. By definition, if $\mathrm{va}(G)= k$, then the chromatic number, $\chi(G)$, satisfies $k\leq \chi(G)\leq 2k$. Fundamental results by Borodin from 1976 and Bollob\'as and Manvel from 1979 imply an analog of Gallai's lower bound on the number of edges in a $(2k-1)$-critical graph. We consider a slight generalization of vertex arboricity in the setting of DP-coloring. Using this framework, we derive lower bounds on the number of edges in graphs critical for vertex arboricity and for list arboricity that are better than Gallai's bound, along with similar bounds in our DP-setting.
Peter Bradshaw, Alexandr V. Kostochka, Zimu Xiang· 0 citations
A dominating set in a graph $G$ is a subset $S$ of its vertices such that each vertex in $G$ is either in $S$ or adjacent to a vertex in $S$. Nordhaus-Gaddum inequalities relate the values of a graph parameter on a graph and its complement. In this setting, Keough and Shane conjecture that any graph $G$ on $n$ vertices satisfies $\partial(G) + \partial(\bar{G}) \leq 2(2^{\lfloor n/2 \rfloor} - 1)(2^{\lceil n/2 \rceil} - 1) + 2$, where $\partial(G)$ is the number of dominating sets in $G$. We partially resolve this conjecture for the bipartite case by proving the stronger bound: for a bipartite graph $G$ with nonempty bipartition $(A,B)$, it holds that $\partial(G) + \partial(\bar{G}) \leq 2(2^{|A|} - 1)(2^{|B|} - 1) + 2$. We also characterize the bipartite graphs for which equality holds.
A central theme in extremal graph theory is the supersaturation problem, which investigates the minimum number of copies of a target subgraph forced by prescribed edge conditions. This line of research goes back to Rademacher and Erd\H{o}s for triangles, and was later extended to cliques by Lov\'asz and Simonovits in the regime above the Tur\'an threshold. Mubayi further extended this theory to color-critical graphs. Below the Tur\'an threshold, a closely related existence-threshold phenomenon arises in the non-$p$-partite setting: a classical result of Brouwer shows that, for $n\ge 2p+1$, every $n$-vertex non-$p$-partite $K_{p+1}$-free graph has at most $e(T_{n,p})-\lfloor n/p\rfloor+1$ edges. Motivated by this threshold, we investigate a sharp clique-counting problem below the Tur\'an threshold under the non-$p$-partite assumption. Let $p\ge 2$ and $s\ge 1$ be fixed integers. Let $Y_{n,p,s}$ be the graph obtained from $T_{n,p}$ by adding an edge inside a largest part and deleting all but $s$ of the edges from one endpoint of this new edge to a smallest part. Then $e(Y_{n,p,s})=e(T_{n,p})-\lfloor n/p\rfloor+s+1$. We prove that, for all sufficiently large $n$, every $n$-vertex non-$p$-partite graph $G$ with $e(G)\ge e(Y_{n,p,s})$ contains at least as many copies of $K_{p+1}$ as $Y_{n,p,s}$ does. The bound is sharp, as it is attained by the construction $Y_{n,p,s}$. Thus our result provides the exact clique-counting analogue of Brouwer's threshold for non-$p$-partite $K_{p+1}$-free graphs.
For a graph $G$, let $h(G)$ be the minimum cardinality of a vertex set meeting every maximum independent set of $G$. We establish two complementary reduction principles for the Bollob\'as--Erd\H{o}s--Tuza conjecture: the conjecture for arbitrary graphs is equivalent to its restriction to regular graphs of any fixed positive linear degree, and, within every hereditary graph class, a uniform sublinear bound is equivalent to a sublinear bound on graphs of every fixed positive linear vertex connectivity. We prove the sharp general estimate \[ h(G)\le \left\lfloor\frac{|V(G)|}{2\alpha(G)+\delta(G)-|V(G)|}\right\rfloor \] whenever the denominator is positive, with equality for balanced complete multipartite graphs. Consequently, every $3$-colorable graph of order $n$ with $\kappa(G)\ge\rho n$ and $\rho>1/3$ has a hitting set of size at most $\lfloor(\rho-1/3)^{-1}\rfloor$; direct use of a $3$-coloring improves this to $6$ when $\kappa(G)>4n/9$ and to the sharp bound $3$ when $\kappa(G)>n/2$. For dense regular graphs with independence ratio greater than $1/4$, we obtain a logarithmic bound, while constructions with linear degree and linear independence number show that $h(G)=\Omega(\sqrt n)$ can still occur. We also prove a logarithmic bound for near-regular $3$-colorable graphs and exhibit a critical family at connectivity $n/3$ that explains the limitations of the degree-surplus and degree-ratio methods.
A vertex-coloring of a graph is centered if every connected subgraph has a vertex with a unique color. A vertex-coloring of a graph is linear if every path in the graph has a vertex with a unique color. Let $\chi_{\mathrm{cen}}(G)$ and $\chi_{\mathrm{lin}}(G)$ be the minimum number of colors in a centered (resp. linear) coloring of $G$. We present a family of graphs witnessing that if $f$ is a nondecreasing function such that $\chi_{\mathrm{cen}}(G) \leq f(\chi_{\mathrm{lin}}(G))$ for every graph $G$, then $f(k) = \Omega(k^2 / \log k)$. The construction was found by OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol Pro.
For an integer $k\geq2$, let $\chi_k'(G)$ denote the minimum number of colors in an edge-coloring of a graph $G$ such that every nonzero degree in each color subgraph is congruent to $1\pmod{k}$. A graph is a $0_k$-graph if every vertex degree is divisible by $k$. We disprove a conjecture of Berthe et al.\ (On modular edge colorings of graphs, SIAM J. Discrete Math. 40 (2026) 897--904), which states that $\chi_k'(G)\leq k+o(k)$ for every $0_k$-graph $G$. We prove a lower bound for $0_k$-graphs with degree set $\{k,2k\}$ and a specified vertex partition. With a suitable choice of the part sizes, if the number of edges inside one part is $o(k^2)$, then $\chi_k'(G)\geq(4-2\sqrt2+o(1))k$. This gives connected bipartite and connected nonbipartite counterexamples. In particular, the same examples also disprove the earlier conjecture of Botler, Colucci, and Kohayakawa (The mod $k$ chromatic index of graphs is $O(k)$, J. Graph Theory 102 (2023) 197--200), which states that $\chi_k'(G)\leq k+C$ for some absolute constant $C$.