Every connected subcubic graph except the Petersen graph is packing $(1,1,2,2)$-colorable

TL;DR

This paper proves that all connected subcubic graphs except the Petersen graph are packing (1,1,2,2)-colorable, confirming several conjectures and questions related to the packing chromatic number of graph subdivisions.

Contribution

It establishes a universal packing (1,1,2,2)-colorability for connected subcubic graphs excluding the Petersen graph, resolving multiple open conjectures.

Findings

Every connected subcubic graph except Petersen is packing (1,1,2,2)-colorable

Confirms the conjecture that the 1-subdivision of subcubic graphs has PCN at most 5

Answers affirmatively to an open question by Gastineau and Togni

Abstract

For a non-decreasing sequence $S = (s_1, s_2, \ldots, s_k)$ of positive integers, a packing $S$-coloring of a graph $G$ is a partition of $V(G)$ into $V_1, V_2, \ldots, V_k$ such that each $V_i$ has pairwise distance at least $s_i+1$. The packing chromatic number (PCN) of a graph $G$ is the minimum $k$ such that $G$ has a packing $(1,2, \ldots, k)$-coloring. The $1$-subdivision of $G$ is obtained by replacing each edge of $G$ with a path of two edges. In 2016, Gastineau and Togni asked an open question whether the $1$-subdivision of every subcubic graph has PCN at most $5$, and later Bre\v sar, Klav\v zar, Rall, and Wash conjectured it is true. Balogh, Kostochka, and Liu proved the first upper bound of $8$, and it was later improved to $6$ by Liu, Zhang, and Zhang. In this paper, we prove that every connected subcubic graph except the Petersen graph is packing $(1,1,2,2)$-colorable. Our result implies a solution to the conjecture of Bre\v sar, Klav\v zar, Rall, and Wash, and answers the question of Gastineau and Togni in the affirmative. Furthermore, our result answers an open question of Kostochka and Liu and solves a conjecture of Liu, Zhang, and Zhang.