0% found this document useful (0 votes)
19 views7 pages

Luiz 2015

This document summarizes an article that examines "AVD-total-colouring of complete equipartite graphs". It defines an AVD-total-colouring as a mapping of vertices and edges to colors such that adjacent or incident elements have different colors and adjacent vertex color sets are distinct. The document reviews previous work on this problem and conjectures the AVD-total-chromatic number is at most the maximum degree plus 3. It then presents the article's contribution: proving this conjecture is true for complete equipartite graphs and determining the AVD-total-chromatic number is the maximum degree plus 2 for even-order complete equipartite graphs.

Uploaded by

Padma K
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
19 views7 pages

Luiz 2015

This document summarizes an article that examines "AVD-total-colouring of complete equipartite graphs". It defines an AVD-total-colouring as a mapping of vertices and edges to colors such that adjacent or incident elements have different colors and adjacent vertex color sets are distinct. The document reviews previous work on this problem and conjectures the AVD-total-chromatic number is at most the maximum degree plus 3. It then presents the article's contribution: proving this conjecture is true for complete equipartite graphs and determining the AVD-total-chromatic number is the maximum degree plus 2 for even-order complete equipartite graphs.

Uploaded by

Padma K
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

Discrete Applied Mathematics 184 (2015) 189–195

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Discrete Applied Mathematics


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/dam

AVD-total-colouring of complete equipartite graphs✩


Atílio G. Luiz ∗ , C.N. Campos, C.P. de Mello
Institute of Computing, University of Campinas, Brazil

article info abstract


Article history: An AVD-total-colouring of a simple graph G is a mapping π : V (G) ∪ E (G) → C , C a set
Received 4 June 2013 of colours, such that: (i) for each pair of adjacent or incident elements x, y ∈ V (G) ∪ E (G),
Received in revised form 1 November 2014 π (x) ̸= π (y); (ii) for each pair of adjacent vertices x, y ∈ V (G), sets {π (x)} ∪ {π (xv): xv ∈
Accepted 11 November 2014
E (G), v ∈ V (G)} and {π (y)} ∪ {π (yv): yv ∈ E (G), v ∈ V (G)} are distinct. The AVD-
Available online 19 January 2015
total-chromatic number, χa′′ (G), is the smallest number of colours for which G admits an
AVD-total-colouring. In 2005, Zhang et al. conjectured that χa′′ (G) ≤ ∆(G) + 3 for any
Keywords:
Total-colouring
simple graph G. In this article this conjecture is verified for any complete equipartite
Adjacent-vertex-distinguishing-total- graph. Moreover, if G is a complete equipartite graph of even order, then it is shown that
colouring χa′′ (G) = ∆(G) + 2.
Complete equipartite graph © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

A graph G is defined by a set V (G) of elements called vertices, a set E (G) of elements called edges, and a relation of incidence,
which associates with each edge either one or two vertices called its ends. An edge is called a link or a loop according as the
number of its ends is two or one, respectively. Two or more links with the same pair of ends are called multiple edges. A
graph without loops and multiple edges is called a simple graph. The cardinality of V (G) is the order of G. We denote an edge
e ∈ E (G) by uv when u and v are its ends. An element of G is a vertex or an edge of G. As usual, we denote by d(v) the degree
of a vertex v ∈ V (G), and by ∆(G) the maximum degree of G.
Let C be a set of colours. A vertex-colouring of G is a mapping ϕ : V (G) → C such that for each pair of adjacent vertices
u, v ∈ V (G), we have ϕ(u) ̸= ϕ(v). Similarly, an edge-colouring of G is a mapping λ: E (G) → C such that for each pair of
adjacent edges uv, vw ∈ E (G), we have λ(uv) ̸= λ(vw). A total-colouring of G is a mapping π : V (G) ∪ E (G) → C such
that for each pair of adjacent or incident elements x, y ∈ V (G) ∪ E (G), we have π (x) ̸= π (y). If |C | = k, then π is called a
k-total-colouring of G, λ is called a k-edge-colouring of G, and ϕ is called a k-vertex-colouring of G.
The chromatic number of G, denoted χ (G), is the smallest number of colours for which G admits a vertex-colouring.
Similarly, the chromatic index of G, denoted χ ′ (G), is the smallest number of colours for which G admits an edge-colouring;
and the total-chromatic number of G, denoted χ ′′ (G), is the smallest number of colours for which G admits a total-colouring.
Let π be a total-colouring of G and let Cπ (u) := {π (u)} ∪ {π (uv) : uv ∈ E (G), v ∈ V (G)} be the set of colours that occur
in a vertex u ∈ V (G). If it is clear from the context that π is a total-colouring of G, then Cπ (u) is written simply as C (u). We
denote by C (u) the set of colours of C that do not occur in vertex u ∈ V (G). Two vertices, u and v , are distinguishable when
C (u) ̸= C (v). If this property is true for every pair of adjacent vertices, then π is an Adjacent-Vertex-Distinguishing-Total-
Colouring (AVD-total-colouring). The AVD-total-chromatic number of G, denoted χa′′ (G), is the smallest number of colours for
which G admits an AVD-total-colouring. If |C | = k, we say that π uses k colours, and π is called a k-AVD-total-colouring.

✩ This research was supported by CNPq and FAPESP.


∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A.G. Luiz), [email protected] (C.N. Campos), [email protected] (C.P. de Mello).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dam.2014.11.006
0166-218X/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
190 A.G. Luiz et al. / Discrete Applied Mathematics 184 (2015) 189–195

(a) K (4 × 2) endowed with canonical (b) Two disjoint induced


labelling. subgraphs of K (4 × 2)
isomorphic to K4 .

Fig. 1. K (4 × 2) and its induced subgraphs K 1 and K 2 that are isomorphic to K4 .

For an edge-colouring, set C (u) is defined by the colours of the edges incident with u. A vertex-distinguishing-proper-edge-
colouring is an edge-colouring of G that requires C (u) ̸= C (v) for each u, v ∈ V (G), u ̸= v . This colouring was first examined
by Burris and Schelp [3], and further investigated by others, including Bazgan et al. [2] and Balister et al. [1]. The motivation
for studying vertex-distinguishing-proper-edge-colourings came from irregular networks [4]. In an irregular network, each
edge is assigned a positive integer weight and each vertex is assigned the sum of the weights of its incident edges, in such
a way that any two vertices receive distinct values. Zhang et al. [15] considered edge-colourings in which only adjacent
vertices were distinguishable. After that, around 2005, Zhang et al. [14] studied the problem of distinguishable vertices in
the context of total-colourings, giving rise to AVD-total-colourings. In this article, Zhang et al. determined the AVD-total-
chromatic number for some classes of graphs and, based on their results, they posed the following conjecture:

Conjecture 1 (AVD-Total-Colouring Conjecture). If G is a simple graph, then χa′′ (G) ≤ ∆(G) + 3.


This conjecture has been verified for some classes of graphs, which include complete graphs, complete bipartite graphs,
trees [14], generalized Halin graphs with maximum degree at least six [7], graphs with ∆(G) = 3 [11,5,8], hypercubes [6],
outerplanar graphs [13], indifference graphs [10], and planar graphs with ∆(G) ≥ 14 [12]. In this work, we consider the
class of complete equipartite graphs. We prove that the AVD-total-colouring conjecture holds for this class and determine
the AVD-total-chromatic number for complete equipartite graphs of even order.

2. Preliminaries

A matching in a graph G is a set of pairwise nonadjacent edges of G. Let M be a matching of G. We say that a vertex
v ∈ V (G) is saturated by M if v is an end of an edge in M. A perfect matching is a matching that saturates all the vertices of
the graph, and a near-perfect matching is a matching in which a single vertex is not saturated.
A subset of V (G) ∪ E (G) is independent if its elements are pairwise nonadjacent and nonincident. For positive integers r
and n, a complete equipartite graph, denoted K (r × n), is a simple graph whose vertex set can be partitioned into r independent
sets (parts) of cardinality n, where any two vertices belonging to different parts are joined by an edge. In this article, we verify
the AVD-total-colouring conjecture for complete equipartite graphs. Moreover, we also determine the AVD-total-chromatic
number for even order complete equipartite graphs. We consider graphs K (r × n) with r ≥ 2 and n ≥ 2 since the results
for r < 2 or n < 2 are known [14].
A canonical labelling of K (r × n) is a labelling of the vertices of K (r × n), such that for each part j, 1 ≤ j ≤ r, each
vertex in the part receives a distinct label uij , where 1 ≤ i ≤ n, as illustrated in Fig. 1(a). For r ≥ 2, we define the canonical
decomposition [K , B ] of K (r × n) as the union of edge-disjoint subgraphs, described in the following.
Let K (r × n) be a complete equipartite graph endowed with canonical labelling. We define subgraphs K i :=
G[{ui1 , . . . , uir }], 1 ≤ i ≤ n, which are isomorphic to the complete graph Kr . Thus, K (r × n) has n disjoint copies of Kr
as induced subgraphs. Fig. 1 illustrates K (4 × 2) endowed with canonical labelling and the induced subgraphs K 1 and K 2
isomorphic to K4 .
The subgraph Bij := G[V (K i ), V (K j )] is defined as the bipartite graph with V (K i ) and V (K j ) as its parts, where 1 ≤ i <
j ≤ n. Note that Bij is a complete bipartite graph minus a perfect matching, resulting in an (r − 1)-regular graph. In fact,
j j
edges uix ux (1 ≤ x ≤ r ) do not exist since vertices uix and ux are in the same part of K (r × n). Fig. 2 illustrates a K (4 × 2)
endowed with canonical labelling and its unique bipartite subgraph, B12 , induced by the edges joining vertices from K 1 to
vertices of K 2 . Using the above notation, we define the canonical decomposition [K , B ] of K (r × n) as:
 
K := K i, and B := Bij .
1≤i≤n 1≤i<j≤n

The previous definition implies that K (r × n) ∼= (K ∪ B ). Note that, for n ≥ 2, K is a disconnected graph composed by
exactly the n components K i , 1 ≤ i ≤ n, each of which isomorphic to the complete graph Kr .
A.G. Luiz et al. / Discrete Applied Mathematics 184 (2015) 189–195 191

(a) K (4 × 2) endowed with canonical (b) The bipartite subgraph


labelling. The bold edges induce the B12 . Note that edges u1j u2j ,
bipartite subgraph B12 . 1 ≤ j ≤ 4, do not exist.

Fig. 2. K (4 × 2) endowed with canonical labelling and its induced bipartite subgraph B12 .

(a) K (4 × 3) endowed with (b) The subgraph K composed by 3


canonical labelling. components isomorphic to K4 .

(c) A scheme showing the canonical (d) The representative graph GR


decomposition of K (4 × 3). Each square of K (4 × 3). Note that GR ∼
= K3 .
represents a component K i ⊆ K . Thick lines
joining squares represent the edges of
bipartite graphs B12 , B13 , and B23 .

Fig. 3. Canonical decomposition of K (4 × 3) and its representative graph GR .

j
Two vertices uil , up ∈ V (K (r ×n)) are called corresponding vertices if l = p and i ̸= j. That is, two vertices are corresponding
vertices if and only if they belong to the same part of K (r × n). For example, in Fig. 1, vertices u11 and u21 are corresponding
j j
vertices. Two edges uil uip , us ut ∈ E (K (r × n)) are called corresponding edges if {l, p} = {s, t }, and i ̸= j. As an example, edges
u12 u13 and u22 u23 are corresponding edges in K (4 × 2); note in Fig. 1(b) that these edges belong to distinct components K 1 and
K 2 , respectively.
Let GR be the underlying simple graph obtained from K ∪ B by shrinking each K i into a vertex vi . Graph GR is called
the representative graph of K (r × n) since the previous decomposition can be represented by GR in the following way: each
vertex vi ∈ V (GR ) represents a component K i ⊆ K and each edge vi vj ∈ E (GR ) represents a bipartite graph Bij ⊆ B . Note
that GR ∼ = Kn . For example, the representative graph of K (4 × 2) is the complete graph K2 . Fig. 3 illustrates the canonical
decomposition of K (4 × 3) and its representative graph.
In the following, we present some results that will be used in our proofs.

Proposition 2 (Zhang et al. [14]). If a simple graph G has two adjacent vertices of maximum degree, then χa′′ (G) ≥ ∆(G)+ 2. 

Theorem 3 (Zhang et al. [14]). If Kn is a complete graph of order n, n ≥ 2, then


∆(Kn ) + 2,

if n is even;
χa′′ (Kn ) =
∆(Kn ) + 3, otherwise. 

Below, we define a χa′′ (Kn )-AVD-total-colouring π and call it the standard-AVD-total-colouring of Kn .


Standard-AVD-total-colouring of Kn Let V (Kn ) := {v1 , . . . , vn }, and let k be the total of colours used by the AVD-total-
colouring π of Kn . First, we determine the value of k: if n is even, then k := ∆(Kn ) + 2; otherwise k := ∆(Kn ) + 3. Second,
192 A.G. Luiz et al. / Discrete Applied Mathematics 184 (2015) 189–195

Fig. 4. Complete graphs K5 and K6 endowed with their respective standard-AVD-total-colourings.

we assign a vertex-colouring to Kn such that, for each vi ∈ V (Kn ), π (vi ) := i. Finally, we assign an edge-colouring to Kn in
the following way: for each vi vj ∈ E (Kn ), if (i + j) is even, then π (vi vj ) := 2 , otherwise π (vi vj ) := (l)k
i +j
 i +j +k 
2 k
, where
denotes the number in {1, . . . , k} which is congruent to l (mod k).
Note that in any (∆(Kn ) + 2)-AVD-total-colouring of an even-order complete graph, there is exactly one colour that
appears only in its edges, and the edges assigned this colour form a perfect matching in Kn . Fig. 4 shows complete graphs
endowed with their respective standard-AVD-total-colourings.

Proposition 4. Let Kn be an odd order complete graph endowed with a (∆(Kn ) + 3)-standard-AVD-total-colouring. Then, for
each vertex vi with i even, C (vi ) = { 2i , n+2i+1 }; and for each vertex vi with i odd, C (vi ) = {( i−21 )n+2 , n+2i+2 }. Moreover, the set of
edges coloured with just ∆(Kn ) + 2 or with just ∆(Kn ) + 3 form near-perfect matchings.
Proof. The result follows from the definition of AVD-total-colouring. In particular, from the fact that, for odd n, there is no
vertex with colours ∆(Kn ) + 2 and ∆(Kn ) + 3. As for the second assertion, note that vn is the unique vertex where colour
∆(Kn ) + 2 does not occur, and that v1 is the unique vertex where colour ∆(Kn ) + 3 does not occur. This implies that each
one of these colours induces a near-perfect matching. 
It is well known that χ ′ (Kn ) = n, if n is odd, and χ ′ (Kn ) = n − 1, otherwise. Now, we define a particular χ ′ (Kn )-edge-
colouring λ and call it a standard-edge-colouring of Kn .
Standard-edge-colouring of Kn Let V (Kn ) := {v1 , . . . , vn }. Suppose n is odd. Then, colouring λ is defined in the following
way: for 1 ≤ i ≤ n and 1 ≤ w ≤ ⌊n/2⌋, λ(v(i+w)n v(i−w)n ) := i. Now, suppose n is even. First, colour the edges of Kn \vn as
done for n odd. Observe that colour i does not occur at vertex vi , 1 ≤ i ≤ n − 1. Then, each edge vn vi can be assigned colour i.

Theorem 5 (König [9]). If G is a bipartite graph, then χ ′ (G) = ∆(G). 

Lemma 6. Let r be an odd integer and let G[X , Y ] be an (r − 1)-regular bipartite graph with X := {x1 , . . . , xr }, Y := {y1 , . . . , yr }
and such that xi yi ̸∈ E (G), 1 ≤ i ≤ r. Then, there exists an r-edge-colouring λ: E (G) → {1, . . . , r } of G such that λ(xi yj ) ̸∈ {i, j}.
Proof. Let r be an odd integer and let H [X , Y ] ∼
= Kr ,r , where X = {x1 , . . . , xr } and Y = {y1 , . . . , yr }. Since, by Theorem 5,
χ ′ (H ) = r, let φ be an r-edge-colouring of H defined in the following way: for 1 ≤ i ≤ r and 0 ≤ p ≤ r − 1,
φ(xi y(i+p)r ) := (i + 2p)r .
Colouring φ uses r colours. Also, observe that φ(xi yi ) = i, for 1 ≤ i ≤ r. First, we prove that φ(xi yj ) ̸= φ(xi ys ) for any two
edges xi yj and xi ys . By the definition of colouring φ , j = (i + p1 )r , and s = (i + p2 )r . Since j ̸= s, we conclude that p1 ̸= p2 .
Thus, i + 2p1 and i + 2p2 lie in different congruence classes modulo r. Therefore, edges xi yj and xi ys receive distinct colours.
Now, we prove that φ(xj yt ) ̸= φ(xs yt ) for any two edges xj yt and xs yt . By the definition of colouring φ we have that
t = (j + p1 )r = (s + p2 )r , and since j ̸= s, we have p1 ̸= p2 . So, we have that (t + p1 )r and (t + p2 )r lie in different congruence
classes modulo r. Therefore, φ(xj yt ) ̸= φ(xs yt ), and φ is an r-edge-colouring of H with the property that φ(xi yi ) = i, for
1 ≤ i ≤ r.
Given the complete bipartite graph H as defined above, endowed with the r-edge-colouring φ , we use H to obtain an
r-edge-colouring λ : E (G) → {1, . . . , r } of graph G in the following way:
λ(xi yj ) := φ(xi yj ) for 1 ≤ i, j ≤ r and i ̸= j.
Since φ(xi yi ) = i, we conclude that λ(xi yj ) ̸∈ {i, j}. 

3. Results

In this section we present our main result.

Theorem 7. Let G := K (r × n) be a complete equipartite graph with r ≥ 2 and n ≥ 2. If G has even order, then χa′′ (G) =
∆(G) + 2; otherwise, χa′′ (G) ≤ ∆(G) + 3.
Proof. Let G := K (r × n), r ≥ 2 and n ≥ 2, endowed with canonical labelling, and [K , B ] be a canonical decomposition of
G. By Proposition 2, χa′′ (G) ≥ ∆(G) + 2 = n(r − 1) + 2.
A.G. Luiz et al. / Discrete Applied Mathematics 184 (2015) 189–195 193

We consider four cases depending on the parity of n and r. For each case, we construct an AVD-total-colouring π for G
with ∆(G) + 2 colours, if G has even order, or with ∆(G) + 3 colours, if G has odd order. In order to do this, we construct an
AVD-total-colouring φ for K and an edge-colouring λ for B . Colouring π is defined in such way that φ is a restriction of π
to the elements of K , and λ a restriction of π to the edges of B .

Case 1. r , n ≡ 0 (mod 2).


In this case, we first construct φ using r + 1 colours, and then λ with (n − 1)(r − 1) additional colours. Therefore, π uses
n(r − 1) + 2 = ∆(G) + 2 colours.
By Theorem 3, χa′′ (K i ) = r + 1. For each i, 1 ≤ i ≤ n, adjust notation so that V (K i ) = {ui1 , . . . , uir }. Let φ i be a standard-
AVD-total-colouring of K i that uses r + 1 colours such that for any φ i and φ j , i ̸= j, corresponding vertices and edges of G
receive the same colour.
Thus, colouring φ is defined as follows.

φ(uij ) := φ i (uij ), uij ∈ V (K i ), 1 ≤ i ≤ n and 1 ≤ j ≤ r ;


φ(uij uik ) := φ i (uij uik ), uij uik ∈ E (K i ), 1 ≤ i ≤ n and 1 ≤ j, k ≤ r .

Note that the AVD-total-colourings φ i determine an AVD-total-colouring φ to K since every two adjacent vertices of K
belong to the same component.
Now, it remains to colour the edges of B . Each Bij ⊆ B is an (r − 1)-regular bipartite graph that will be coloured with
r − 1 colours. In order to obtain a way of reusing the same set of colours for disjoint bipartite graphs Bij , we consider the
colour classes of a χ ′ (GR )-edge-colouring of representative graph GR . Note that in such a colouring, each colour class is a
perfect matching of GR . Also, each edge vi vj of GR is assigned to the bipartite graph Bij . Therefore, there exists a set F of
disjoint bipartite graphs Bij assigned to each perfect matching of GR . We conclude that, to edge-colour the elements of each
set F , a total of r − 1 colours are required. Since χ ′ (GR ) = n − 1, there exist exactly n − 1 sets F , which implies (n − 1)(r − 1)
new colours used to colour the edges of B . Let λ be the edge-colouring just constructed for B .
We claim that π is a total-colouring. Note that every adjacent or incident elements of K have distinct colours because K
was assigned an AVD-total-colouring. Moreover, every two adjacent edges of B have distinct colours because B received
an edge-colouring. Since all colours used in the AVD-total-colouring of K are distinct from the colours used in the edge-
colouring of B , every two incident or adjacent elements of G have distinct colours. Therefore, π is a total-colouring of G.
For a vertex uil ∈ V (G), note that Cπ (uil ) = Cφ (uil ) ∪ Cλ (uil ). In order to conclude this case, we have to prove that
j j j
Cπ (uil ) ̸= Cπ (up ) for any two adjacent uil , up ∈ V (G). If j = i, vertices uil , up belong to the same component of K , and
j j
the result follows by construction of φ . Suppose that i ̸= j. By construction of φ , Cφ (uil ) ̸= Cφ (up ) because uil , up are not
j
corresponding vertices. Moreover, all the colours used to edge-colouring B occur in both and up ; uil ( ) = Cλ (ujp ).
that is, Cλ uil
j
Nevertheless, the set of colours used by φ λ i
is disjoint from that used by . We conclude that Cπ ul ( ) ̸= ( )
Cπ up .

Case 2. r ≡ 1 (mod 2) and n ≡ 0 (mod 2).


In this case, we first construct φ using 2r colours, and then λ with (n − 2)(r − 1) + r colours, where r of them are used
in φ . Therefore, π uses n(r − 1) + 2 = ∆(G) + 2 colours.
For each i, 1 ≤ i ≤ n, adjust notation so that V (K i ) = {ui1 , . . . , uir }. Since r is odd, χ ′ (K i ) = r. We construct an AVD-total-
colouring φ i for K i in the following way: (i) the edges of K i receive a standard-r-edge-colouring with colours from the set
{1, . . . , r }; (ii) φ i (uij ) := r + j, 1 ≤ j ≤ r. According to the definition of φ i , for each pair of adjacent vertices uij , uil ∈ V (K i ),
we have C φ i (uij ) = {j} ∪ {r + x: 1 ≤ x ≤ r and x ̸= j} which is different from C φ i (uil ) = {l} ∪ {r + x: 1 ≤ x ≤ r and x ̸= l}.
Thus, uij and uil have distinct sets of colours. Now, colouring φ is defined as in the previous case and we conclude that φ is a
(2r )-AVD-total-colouring by the same reasoning.
Now it remains to colour the edges of B . As we already know, it is possible to colour the edges of each bipartite Bij with
r − 1 colours. Graph GR has n − 1 disjoint perfect matchings. For n − 2 of them, we apply the same reasoning of Case 1,
using (n − 2)(r − 1) new colours. Let M be the remaining perfect matching of GR . For each Bij assigned to an edge of M, let
λij : E (Bij ) → {r + 1, . . . , 2r } be an r-edge-colouring obtained from Lemma 6, such that λij (uil ujp ) ̸∈ {r + l, r + p}. Therefore,
the edges of B received (n − 2)(r − 1) + r colours with r of them also used in the vertices of K . Let λ be the edge-colouring
just constructed for B .
We claim that π is a total-colouring for G. By construction, φ is an AVD-total-colouring for K . Also, by construction, λ
is an edge-colouring for B . For edge-colouring B we use (n − 2)(r − 1) new colours and reuse the r colours assigned to
vertices of G. Recall that colours used in the vertices of G are not assigned to any edge of K . By construction of φ and λ, and by
Lemma 6, we conclude that there are no edges of B incident with a vertex of same colour. Therefore, π is a total-colouring.
Colouring π is also adjacent-vertex-distinguishing. Note that any two adjacent vertices belonging to the same compo-
nent K i have distinct sets of colours, which is guaranteed by the AVD-total-colouring given to K . Since the colours used to
edge-colour B occur on each vertex of G, any two adjacent vertices u and v belonging to different components of K are
also distinguished by the AVD-total-colouring given to K . Thus, C (u) ̸= C (v) for any two adjacent vertices u, v ∈ V (G).
Therefore, π is a (∆(G) + 2)-AVD-total-colouring of G.
194 A.G. Luiz et al. / Discrete Applied Mathematics 184 (2015) 189–195

Case 3. r ≡ 0 (mod 2) and n ≡ 1 (mod 2).


In this case, we first construct λ using n(r − 1) colours, and then φ with r + 1 colours, using just two new colours.
Therefore, π uses n(r − 1) + 2 = ∆(G) + 2 colours.
Since n is odd, GR is Class 2. Consider a standard-edge-colouring for GR . By the same reasoning of previous cases, we
obtain an n(r − 1)-edge-colouring λ for B from this edge-colouring of GR . By construction of the standard-edge-colouring
of GR , colour i does not occur in vi ∈ V (GR ), for each 1 ≤ i ≤ n. This implies that there exists a set of r − 1 colours of λ that
do not occur in vertices of K i . Let Si be this set of colours and define Si := {c1i , . . . , cri −1 }.
Now, we construct φ , an (r + 1)-AVD-total-colouring for K . In order to do this, we define φ i for each K i using colours
Si ∪ {x, y}, 1 ≤ i ≤ n. Recall that in any (∆(Kn ) + 2)-AVD-total-colouring of an even-order complete graph, there is exactly
one colour which induces a perfect matching. For each K i , adjust notation so that: (i) colour y induces this perfect matching;
(ii) φ i (uir ) = x; and (iii) φ i (uij ) = cji , 1 ≤ j ≤ r − 1. Note that vertices assigned colour x are non-adjacent, since they are in
the same part of G.
In order to conclude this case, we prove that π , as previously defined, is a (∆(G) + 2)-AVD-total-colouring of G. By
construction of λ and φ , colouring π uses n(r − 1) + 2 = ∆(G) + 2 colours.
We claim that π is a total-colouring. To see this, observe that the AVD-total-colouring assigned to K guarantees that any
two adjacent or incident elements in the same component K i receive distinct colours. Moreover, any two adjacent edges of
j
subgraph B receive distinct colours because λ is an edge-colouring. In order to see that π (uik ) ̸= π (uik ul ), i ̸= j, remember
the definition of Si . Colours of Si do not occur in any edge of B , 1 ≤ p ≤ n, p ̸= i. Moreover, π (uk ) ∈ Si ∪ {x}, and x is not
ip i

j
used to colour edges of B . It remains to analyse two adjacent vertices of G, uik and ul , i ̸= j. Colour π (uik ) ∈ Si ∪ {x} and colour
j j
π( ) ∈ Sj ∪ {x}. By construction, Si and Sj are disjoint and at most one of { , } received colour x since these vertices are
ul uik ul
adjacent. Therefore, we conclude that π is a total-colouring.
Now we prove that π is also adjacent-vertex-distinguishing. Since φ i , 1 ≤ i ≤ n, is an AVD-total-colouring, we have just
j
to analyse adjacent vertices uil and uk , i ̸= j, in distinct components of K . For each Si ∪ {x}, 1 ≤ i ≤ n, define (c1i , . . . , cri −1 , x)
j
as an order for this set. Consider the corresponding vertices uik and uk of G. By the definition of π , C π (uik ) = c, c ∈ Si ∪{x}, and
j
C π (uk ) = c , c ∈ Sj ∪ {x}. Moreover, c and c have the same position in the previously defined order of Si ∪ {x} and Sj ∪ {x}.
′ ′ ′
j
By the definition of φ i , for each uil , l ̸= k, C π (uil ) ̸= C π (uik ). Since Si ∩ Sj = ∅ and k ̸= l, we conclude that C π (uil ) ̸= C π (uk ).

Case 4. r , n ≡ 1 (mod 2).


This is the only case for which G has odd order. In this case, we construct λ using n(r − 1) colours, and φ with r + 2
colours, using just three new colours. Therefore, π uses n(r − 1) + 3 = ∆(G) + 3 colours.
Like Case 3, here n is odd and GR is Class 2. We construct a standard edge-colouring λ for B that uses n(r − 1) colours.
We define Si := {c1i , . . . , cri −1 } as the set of colours of λ that do not occur in K i , as in the previous case.
In this case, each K i is an odd-order complete graph. So, we construct an (r + 2)-AVD-total-colouring φ for K . In order
to do this, we define a standard-AVD-total-colouring φ i for each K i using colours Si ∪ {x, y, z }, 1 ≤ i ≤ n. Recall that, in
a standard-AVD-total-colouring of an odd-order complete graph, each of the two colours that appear only in edges of Kn
induces a near-perfect matching. For each K i , adjust notation so that φ i (uij ) = cji , 1 ≤ j ≤ r − 1 and φ i (uir ) = x. Colours y
and z appear only in edges of K i . Note that vertices assigned colour x are non-adjacent since they are in the same part of G.
In order to conclude this case, we prove that π , as previously defined, is a (∆(G) + 3)-AVD-total-colouring of G. By con-
struction of λ and φ , colouring π uses n(r − 1) + 3 = ∆(G) + 3 colours. Colouring π is an AVD-total-colouring by exactly
the same reasoning of the previous case. 
In Theorem 7, the AVD-total-colouring of complete equipartite graphs of even order is determined. For graphs of odd
order in this family, we only verify the AVD-Total-Colouring Conjecture. Moreover, we did not find complete equipartite
graphs of odd order that needed ∆(K (r × n)) + 3 colours. Based on these observations, we pose the following conjecture:

Conjecture 8. If K (r × n) has odd order, then χa′′ (K (r × n)) = ∆(K (r × n)) + 2.

References

[1] P. Balister, B. Bollobás, R. Schelp, Vertex distinguishing colorings of graphs with ∆(G) = 2, Discrete Math. 252 (2) (2002) 17–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.
1016/S0012-365X(01)00287-4.
[2] C. Bazgan, A. Harkat-Benhamdine, H. Li, M. Woźniak, On the vertex-distinguishing proper edge-coloring of graphs, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 75 (2)
(1999) 288–301. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jctb.1998.1884.
[3] A.C. Burris, R.H. Schelp, Vertex-distinguishing proper edge colorings, J. Graph Theory 26 (2) (1997) 73–82.
[4] G. Chartrand, M.S. Jacobson, J. Lehel, O.R. Oellerman, S. Ruiz, F. Saba, Irregular networks, Congr. Numer. 64 (1988) 197–210.
[5] X. Chen, On the adjacent vertex distinguishing total coloring numbers of graphs with ∆(G) = 3, Discrete Math. 308 (2008) 4003–4007. http://dx.doi.
org/10.1016/j.disc.2007.07.091.
[6] M. Chen, X. Guo, Adjacent vertex-distinguishing edge and total chromatic numbers of hypercubes, Inform. Process. Lett. 109 (12) (2009) 599–602.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ipl.2009.02.006.
[7] X. Chen, Z. Zhang, AVDTC numbers of generalized Halin graphs with maximum degree at least 6, Acta Math. Appl. Sin. Engl. Ser. 24 (1) (2008) 55–58.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10255-005-5222-8.
A.G. Luiz et al. / Discrete Applied Mathematics 184 (2015) 189–195 195

[8] J. Hulgan, Concise proofs for adjacent vertex-distinguishing total colourings, Discrete Math. 309 (2009) 2548–2550. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.disc.
2008.06.002.
[9] D. König, Über Graphen und ihre Anwendung auf Determinantentheorie und Mengenlehre, Math. Ann. 77 (1916) 453–465.
[10] V. Pedrotti, C.P. de Mello, Adjacent-vertex-distinguishing total colouring of indifference graphs, Mat. Contemp. 39 (2010) 101–110.
[11] H. Wang, On the adjacent vertex-distinguishing total chromatic numbers of the graphs with ∆(G) = 3, J. Comb. Optim. 14 (1) (2007) 87–109.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10878-006-9038-0.
[12] W. Wang, D. Huang, The adjacent vertex distinguishing total coloring of planar graphs, Journal of Combinatorial Optimization 27 (2) (2014) 379–396.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10878-012-9527-2.
[13] Y. Wang, W. Wang, Adjacent vertex distinguishing total colorings of outerplanar graphs, Journal of Combinatorial Optimization 19 (2) (2010) 123–133.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10878-008-9165-x.
[14] Z. Zhang, X. Chen, J. Li, B. Yao, X. Lu, J. Wang, On adjacent-vertex-distinguishing total coloring of graphs, Sci. China Ser. A: Math. 48 (3) (2005) 289–299.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1360/03ys0207.
[15] Z. Zhang, L. Liu, J. Wang, Adjacent strong edge coloring of graphs, Appl. Math. Lett. 15 (5) (2002) 623–626. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0893-9659(02)
80015-5.

You might also like