Graphs that are critical for the packing chromatic number

TL;DR

This paper studies the properties of graphs that are critical for their packing chromatic number, characterizing such graphs in specific classes and analyzing how edge removal affects this number.

Contribution

It characterizes $ ho$-critical graphs in various classes, including diameter 2 graphs, block graphs with diameter 3, and trees, and analyzes the impact of edge removal on the packing chromatic number.

Findings

Characterization of $ ho$-critical graphs with diameter 2.

Characterization of $ ho$-critical block graphs with diameter 3.

Edge removal can change the packing chromatic number within specific bounds.

Abstract

Given a graph $G$, a coloring $c:V(G)\longrightarrow \{1,\ldots,k\}$ such that $c(u)=c(v)=i$ implies that vertices $u$ and $v$ are at distance greater than $i$, is called a packing coloring of $G$. The minimum number of colors in a packing coloring of $G$ is called the packing chromatic number of $G$, and is denoted by $\chi_\rho(G)$. In this paper, we propose the study of $\chi_\rho$-critical graphs, which are the graphs $G$ such that for any proper subgraph $H$ of $G$, $\chi_\rho(H)<\chi_\rho(G)$. We characterize $\chi_\rho$-critical graphs with diameter 2, and $\chi_\rho$-critical block graphs with diameter 3. Furthermore, we characterize $\chi_\rho$-critical graphs with small packing chromatic numbers, and we also consider $\chi_\rho$-critical trees. In addition, we prove that for any graph $G$ with $e\in E(G)$, we have $(\chi_\rho(G)+1)/2\le \chi_\rho(G-e)\le \chi_\rho(G)$, and provide a corresponding realization result, which shows that $\chi_\rho(G-e)$ can achieve any of the integers between the bounds.