Acyclic Edge Coloring of 3-sparse Graphs

TL;DR

This paper proves Fiamčík's conjecture for 3-sparse graphs, showing their acyclic chromatic index is at most Δ+2, and provides improved bounds under specific conditions.

Contribution

The paper confirms Fiamčík's conjecture for 3-sparse graphs and introduces a tighter bound of Δ+1 when certain degree conditions are met.

Findings

Proved that for 3-sparse graphs, a'(G) ≤ Δ+2.

Established a Δ+1 bound when an edge's degree sum is less than Δ+3.

Characterized bipartite 3-sparse graphs with no such edge for Δ > 3.

Abstract

A proper edge coloring of a graph without any bichromatic cycles is said to be an acyclic edge coloring of the graph. The acyclic chromatic index of a graph $G$ denoted by $a'(G)$, is the minimum integer $k$ such that $G$ has an acyclic edge coloring with $k$ colors. Fiam\v{c}\'{\i}k conjectured that for a graph $G$ with maximum degree $\Delta$, $a'(G) \le \Delta+2$. A graph $G$ is said to be $3$-sparse if every edge in $G$ is incident on at least one vertex of degree at most $3$. We prove the conjecture for the class of $3$-sparse graphs. Further, we give a stronger bound of $\Delta +1$, if there exists an edge $xy$ in the graph with $d_G(x)+ d_G(y) < \Delta+3$. When $ \Delta > 3$, the $3$-sparse graphs where no such edge exists is the set of bipartite graphs where one partition has vertices with degree exactly $3$ and the other partition has vertices with degree exactly $\Delta$.