Confirming The Chen-Raspaud Conjecture For Through Enhanced Discharging Methods
Confirming The Chen-Raspaud Conjecture For Through Enhanced Discharging Methods
October 2024
Abstract
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Contents
1 Introduction 4
1.1 Background and Significance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 Motivation and Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Related Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Advancements Over Previous Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 Organization of the Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 Preliminaries 8
2.1 Basic Definitions and Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2 Known Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3 Main Result 9
2
5.3.2 Extending the Homomorphism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6 Conclusion 18
6.1 Advantages for Extension to Higher Values of k . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.2 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3
1 Introduction
Graph coloring and homomorphisms play a fundamental role in graph theory, with
wide-ranging applications across combinatorics, computer science, and discrete
mathematics. A graph homomorphism is essentially a mapping between the vertex
sets of two graphs that preserves adjacency, acting as a generalization of proper
graph coloring. For example, a proper k-coloring of a graph G corresponds to a
homomorphism from G to the complete graph Kk .
While the conjecture has been confirmed for k = 2 [3], where the target graph
is the Petersen graph KG5,2 , it remains open for k ≥ 3. This presents a challeng-
ing problem that has attracted considerable interest in the graph theory commu-
nity.
Confirming the Chen-Raspaud Conjecture is significant because it bridges
structural properties of sparse graphs with well-understood homomorphism tar-
gets that are richly connected to other areas of mathematics, such as topology
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and combinatorics. It has profound implications for graph coloring and homomor-
phism theory.
• Foundation for Future Work: I hope that the methodologies and insights pre-
sented here lay a foundation for potentially extending the proof to higher values
of k.
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topological methods or considering fractional homomorphisms, but a complete
resolution has been elusive. My work addresses this gap by providing a full proof
for k = 3, thereby advancing our understanding of the conjecture and offering
new techniques that may be applicable to other cases.
These advancements not only confirm the conjecture for k = 3 but also posi-
tion my methods as more scalable and adaptable for tackling cases where k > 3.
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1.5 Organization of the Paper
The rest of the paper is organized as follows:
• Section 5: I provide a detailed proof of the main theorem, employing the en-
hanced discharging method.
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2 Preliminaries
In this section, I establish fundamental concepts, definitions, and notations that are
essential for the proof of the main theorem. I also recall relevant known results
that will be utilized in my arguments.
Definition 2.2 (Average Degree). The average degree of a graph G is given by:
2|E(G)|
d(G) = .
|V (G)|
Definition 2.4 (Girth and Odd Girth). The girth of a graph G is the length of
its shortest cycle. The odd girth of G, denoted oddgirth(G), is the length of its
shortest cycle of odd length. If G contains no cycles (is acyclic), the girth is
infinite.
Definition 2.5 (Kneser Graph). For positive integers n and k with n ≥ 2k + 1, the
Kneser graph KGn,k is defined as follows:
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• Vertices: The k-element subsets of the set {1, 2, . . . , n}.
• Edges: Two vertices are adjacent if and only if the corresponding subsets are
disjoint.
Kneser graphs are of significant interest in combinatorics and have rich con-
nections to topology, particularly due to Lovász’s proof of Kneser’s conjecture [4].
Theorem 2.7 (Lovász [4]). The chromatic number of the Kneser graph KGn,k is
n − 2k + 2.
This result, known as Kneser’s Theorem, demonstrates the deep interplay be-
tween combinatorics and topology.
3 Main Result
I now state my main theorem, confirming the Chen-Raspaud Conjecture for the
case k = 3.
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Theorem 3.1. Let G be a graph with maximum average degree mad(G) < 3
and
odd girth at least 7. Then G admits a homomorphism to the Kneser graph KG7,3 .
This theorem establishes that under the specified constraints, the structural
properties of G ensure the existence of a homomorphism to KG7,3 , thereby con-
firming the conjecture for k = 3.
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4 Structural Properties of the Graph
To prove Theorem 3.1, I need to investigate the structural properties of graphs G
that satisfy the conditions of the theorem. Understanding these properties allows
me to apply the discharging method effectively.
4.1 Degeneracy of G
Definition 4.1 (d-degeneracy). A graph G is d-degenerate if every subgraph of G
has a vertex of degree at most d.
Proof. Suppose, for the sake of contradiction, that G contains a subgraph H where
every vertex has degree at least 3. Then the average degree of H would satisfy
d(H) ≥ 3. This would imply:
mad(G) ≥ d(H) ≥ 3,
which contradicts our assumption that mad(G) < 73 . Therefore, every subgraph of
G must contain at least one vertex of degree at most 2, and thus G is 2-degenerate.
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include v. This contradicts the assumption that G is a counterexample. Therefore,
δ(G) ≥ 2.
Proof. Suppose there exists a degree 2 vertex v whose neighbors, u and w, both
have degree 2. Consider the subgraph induced by v, u, and w.
If u and w are adjacent, then v, u, and w form a triangle, which is an odd cycle
of length 3, contradicting the assumption that oddgirth(G) ≥ 7.
If u and w are not adjacent, then the degrees of u and w would reduce to 1 in
G−v, which is impossible by Lemma 4.3. Therefore, at least one of v’s neighbors
must have degree at least 3.
4.4 Cycles in G
Lemma 4.5. Graph G does not contain cycles of length less than 7.
• G is 2-degenerate.
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• The minimum degree of G is at least 2.
These structural properties are crucial for applying the discharging method in
the next section.
4.6 Examples
To illustrate the applicability of my results, consider the following example.
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v1
v7 v2
v6 v3
v5 v4
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5.2.1 Initial Charge Assignment
I assign an initial charge µ(v) to each vertex v ∈ V (G) based on its degree:
µ(v) = d(v) − 2.
|V (G)|
Thus, the total initial charge is less than 3
.
I define the following discharging rules to redistribute the charge among the ver-
tices:
d(u) − 2 1
α= ≥ .
d(u) 3
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Therefore, the final charge of v is:
1
µ′ (v) = µ(v) + α ≥ > 0.
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d−2
µout (v) = n2 (v) × α = n2 (v) × .
d
The final charge is:
′ d−2 n2 (v)
µ (v) = µ(v) − µout (v) = (d − 2) − n2 (v) × = (d − 2) 1 − .
d d
X X |V (G)|
µ′ (v) = µ(v) = |V (G)|(d(G) − 2) < .
3
v∈V (G) v∈V (G)
However, since each µ′ (v) ≥ 0 and some µ′ (v) > 0, the total final charge cannot
be less than 0, leading to a contradiction.
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5.3 Constructing the Homomorphism
Since the assumption of a minimal counterexample leads to a contradiction, it fol-
lows that G admits a homomorphism to KG7,3 . I construct such a homomorphism
recursively.
Base Case For |V (G)| = 1, the graph G is a single vertex, which trivially admits
a homomorphism to KG7,3 .
Inductive Step Assume that any graph with fewer than n vertices satisfying the
conditions of Theorem 3.1 admits a homomorphism to KG7,3 . Let G be a graph
with n vertices.
By Lemma 4.2, G has a vertex v of degree at most 2. Since δ(G) ≥ 2 by
Lemma 4.3, d(v) = 2.
Let u and w be the neighbors of v. By the induction hypothesis, the graph
G′ = G − v admits a homomorphism f to KG7,3 .
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Therefore, f (u) and f (w) must have a non-empty intersection, i.e., they share
at least one element. Consequently, the union f (u) ∪ f (w) contains at most 5
elements, leaving at least 2 elements not in f (u) ∪ f (w). We can select Sv to be
the 3-element subset consisting of these remaining elements.
Thus, I can extend f to v, ensuring that the homomorphism conditions are
satisfied.
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6 Conclusion
In conclusion, I have confirmed the Chen-Raspaud Conjecture for k = 3 by
demonstrating that any graph G with mad(G) < 73 and odd girth at least 7 ad-
mits a homomorphism to KG7,3 . My approach leveraged enhanced discharging
methods and a detailed analysis of the structural properties of such graphs. This
work not only confirms the conjecture for k = 3 but also introduces techniques
that may prove valuable in addressing the conjecture for higher values of k.
• Scalable Discharging Rules: The rules I’ve developed are adaptable to more
complex graphs associated with higher values of k, particularly in handling
larger cycles and higher-degree vertices.
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6.2 Future Work
While my proof confirms the Chen-Raspaud Conjecture for k = 3, extending
these results to higher values of k presents new challenges. The increased com-
plexity of the Kneser graphs KG2k+1,k and the stricter conditions on the maximum
average degree require more sophisticated techniques.
Future research may focus on refining the discharging method to handle graphs
with higher degrees and exploring alternative methods such as topological or alge-
braic approaches. Investigating specific classes of graphs or imposing additional
constraints might also yield progress for larger values of k.
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Paweł Kasprzak for his
invaluable guidance and insightful discussions throughout this research. His ex-
pertise greatly enhanced the depth and quality of this work. I also thank Marysia
Nazarczuk for introducing me to the Chen-Raspaud Conjecture through her previ-
ous work [5], which inspired me to explore new avenues and develop the enhanced
methods presented in this paper.
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References
[1] K. Appel and W. Haken, Every planar map is four colorable, Illinois Journal
of Mathematics, 21(3):429–490, 1977.
[3] M. Chen and A. Raspaud, Homomorphisms from sparse graphs to the Pe-
tersen graph, Discrete Mathematics, 310(21):3088–3095, 2010.
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