List recoloring of planar graphs

TL;DR

This paper investigates bounds on the diameter of list recoloring graphs for planar graphs under various face adjacency and list size conditions, extending previous results and providing explicit linear bounds.

Contribution

It proves new linear bounds on the diameter of list recoloring graphs for planar graphs with specific face adjacency and list size constraints, strengthening prior results.

Findings

Diameter at most 190|V(G)| with certain 3-face adjacency conditions and list size ≥10.

Diameter at most 13|V(G)| with limited 3-face adjacency and list size ≥9.

Diameter at most 242|V(G)| when faces adjacent to 3-faces have length ≥6 and list size ≥7.

Abstract

A list assignment $L$ of a graph $G$ is a function that assigns to every vertex $v$ of $G$ a set $L(v)$ of colors. A proper coloring $\alpha$ of $G$ is called an $L$-coloring of $G$ if $\alpha(v)\in L(v)$ for every $v\in V(G)$. For a list assignment $L$ of $G$, the $L$-recoloring graph $\mathcal{G}(G,L)$ of $G$ is a graph whose vertices correspond to the $L$-colorings of $G$ and two vertices of $\mathcal{G}(G,L)$ are adjacent if their corresponding $L$-colorings differ at exactly one vertex of $G$. A $d$-face in a plane graph is a face of length $d$. Dvo\v{r}\'ak and Feghali conjectured for a planar graph $G$ and a list assignment $L$ of $G$, that: (i) If $|L(v)|\geq 10$ for every $v\in V(G)$, then the diameter of $\mathcal{G}(G,L)$ is $O(|V(G)|)$. (ii) If $G$ is triangle-free and $|L(v)|\geq 7$ for every $v\in V(G)$, then the diameter of $\mathcal{G}(G,L)$ is $O(|V(G)|)$. In a recent paper, Cranston (European J. Combin. (2022)) has proved (ii). In this paper, we prove the following results. Let $G$ be a plane graph and $L$ be a list assignment of $G$. $\bullet$ If for every $3$-face of $G$, there are at most two $3$-faces adjacent to it and $|L(v)|\geq 10$ for every $v\in V(G)$, then the diameter of $\mathcal{G}(G,L)$ is at most $190|V(G)|$. $\bullet$ If for every $3$-face of $G$, there is at most one $3$-face adjacent to it and $|L(v)|\geq 9$ for every $v\in V(G)$, then the diameter of $\mathcal{G}(G,L)$ is at most $13|V(G)|$. $\bullet$ If the faces adjacent to any $3$-face have length at least $6$ and $|L(v)|\geq 7$ for every $v\in V(G)$, then the diameter of $\mathcal{G}(G,L)$ is at most $242|V(G)|$. This result strengthens the Cranston's result on (ii).