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Colouring (P_r P_s)-Free Graphs

Publication at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics |
2018

Abstract

The k-Colouring problem is to decide if the vertices of a graph can be coloured with at most k colours for a fixed integer k such that no two adjacent vertices are coloured alike. If each vertex u must be assigned a colour from a prescribed list L(u) subseteq {1,...,k}, then we obtain the List k-Colouring problem.

A graph G is H-free if G does not contain H as an induced subgraph. We continue an extensive study into the complexity of these two problems for H-free graphs.

We prove that List 3-Colouring is polynomial-time solvable for (P_2+P_5)-free graphs and for (P_3+P_4)-free graphs. Combining our results with known results yields complete complexity classifications of 3-Colouring and List 3-Colouring on H-free graphs for all graphs H up to seven vertices.

We also prove that 5-Colouring is NP-complete for (P_3+P_5)-free graphs.