- Research Article
- 10.1137/21m1432776
The Overfullness of Graphs with Small Minimum Degree and Large Maximum Degree
- Sep 01, 2022
- SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics
- Yan Cao + 3 more +3
Given a simple graph $G$, denote by $\Delta(G)$, $\delta(G)$, and $\chi'(G)$ the maximum degree, the minimum degree, and the chromatic index of $G$, respectively. We say $G$ is $\Delta$-critical if $\chi'(G)=\Delta(G)+1$ and $\chi'(H)\le \Delta(G)$ for every proper subgraph $H$ of $G$, and $G$ is overfull if $|E(G)|>\Delta(G) \lfloor |V(G)|/2 \rfloor$. Since a maximum matching in $G$ can have size at most $\lfloor |V(G)|/2 \rfloor$, it follows that $\chi'(G) = \Delta(G) +1$ if $G$ is overfull. Conversely, let $G$ be a $\Delta$-critical graph. The well known overfull conjecture of Chetwynd and Hilton asserts that $G$ is overfull provided $\Delta(G) > |V(G)|/3$. In this paper, we show that any $\Delta$-critical graph $G$ is overfull if $\Delta(G) - 7\delta(G)/4\ge (3|V(G)|-17)/4$.
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