Online List Colorings with the Fixed Number of Colors

TL;DR

This paper investigates the online list coloring game with a fixed number of colors, establishing bounds for when a graph is not paintable under these conditions and characterizing such graphs.

Contribution

It introduces the concepts of $[2,t]$-paintability and provides bounds and characterizations for graphs based on these parameters.

Findings

If $G$ is not 2-paintable, then $2 \\leq m(G) \\leq 4$.

For non-2-paintable graphs, $n \\leq M(G) \\leq 2n-3$.

Characterizations of graphs with specific $m(G)$ and $M(G)$ values.

Abstract

The online list coloring is a widely studied topic in graph theory. A graph $G$ is 2-paintable if we always have a strategy to complete a coloring in an online list coloring of $G$ in which each vertex has a color list of size 2. In this paper, we focus on the online list coloring game in which the number of colors is known in advance. We say that $G$ is $[2,t]$-paintable if we always have a strategy to complete a coloring in an online list coloring of $G$ in which we know that there are exactly $t$ colors in advance, and each vertex has a color list of size 2. Let $M(G)$ denote the maximum $t$ in which $G$ is not $[2,t]$-paintable, and $m(G)$ denote the minimum $t \geq 2$ in which $G$ is not $[2,t]$-paintable. We show that if $G$ is not 2-paintable, then $2 \leq m(G) \leq 4,$ and $n \leq M(G) \leq 2n-3.$ Furthermore, we characterize $G$ with $m(G)\in \{2,3,4\}$ and $M(G) \in \{n, n+1, 2n-3\},$ respectively.