Given a sequence of graphs $G_n$ and a fixed graph H, denote by $T(H, G_n)$ the number of monochromatic copies of the graph H in a uniformly random c-coloring of the vertices of $G_n$. In this paper we study the joint distribution of a finite collection of monochromatic graph counts in networks with multiple layers (multiplex networks). Specifically, given a finite collection of graphs $H_1, H_2, \ldots, H_d$ we derive the joint distribution of $(T(H_1, G_n^{(1)}), T(H_2, G_n^{(2)}), \ldots, T(H_d, G_n^{(d)}))$, where $\mathbf{G}_n = (G_n^{(1)}, G_n^{(2)}, \ldots, G_n^{(d)})$ is a collection of dense graphs on the same vertex set converging in the multiplex cut-metric. The limiting distribution is the sum of two independent components: a multivariate Gaussian and a sum of independent bivariate stochastic integrals. This extends previous results on the marginal convergence of monochromatic subgraphs in a sequence of graphs to the joint convergence of a finite collection of monochromatic subgraphs in a sequence of multiplex networks. Several applications and examples are discussed.

Schur functions are a basis of the symmetric function ring that represent Schubert cohomology classes for Grassmannians. Replacing the cohomology ring with K-theory yields a rich combinatorial theory of inhomogeneous deformations, where Schur functions are replaced by their K-analogs, the symmetric Grothendieck functions. We initiate a theory of the Kromatic symmetric function $\overline {X}_G$, a K-theoretic analog of the chromatic symmetric function $X_G$ of a graph G. The Kromatic symmetric function is a generating series for graph colorings in which vertices receive any nonempty set of colors such that neighboring color sets are disjoint. Our main result lifts a theorem of Gasharov (1996), showing that when G is a claw-free incomparability graph, $\overline {X}_G$ is a positive sum of symmetric Grothendieck functions. This suggests a topological interpretation of Gasharov’s theorem. Kromatic symmetric functions of path graphs are not positive in any of several K-analogs of the e-basis, demonstrating that the Stanley–Stembridge conjecture (1993) does not have such a lift to K-theory and so is unlikely to be amenable to a topological perspective. We define a vertex-weighted extension of $\overline {X}_G$ which admits a deletion–contraction relation. Finally, we give a K-analog for $\overline {X}_G$ of the monomial-basis expansion of $X_G$.

We prove that the family of graphs containing no cycle with exactly k-chords is $\chi $-bounded, for k large enough or of form $\ell (\ell -2)$ with $\ell \ge 3$ an integer. This verifies (up to a finite number of values k) a conjecture of Aboulker and Bousquet (2015).

In 1967, Klarner proposed a problem concerning the existence of reflecting n-queens configurations. The problem considers the feasibility of placing n mutually nonattacking queens on the reflecting chessboard, an $n\times n$ chessboard with a $1\times n$ “reflecting strip” of squares added along one side of the board. A queen placed on the reflecting chessboard can attack the squares in the same row, column, and diagonal, with the additional feature that its diagonal path can be reflected via the reflecting strip. Klarner noted the equivalence of this problem to a number theory problem proposed by Slater, which asks: for which n is it possible to pair up the integers 1 through n with the integers $n+1$ through $2n$ such that no two of the sums or differences of the n pairs of integers are the same. We prove the existence of reflecting n-queens configurations for all sufficiently large n, thereby resolving both Slater’s and Klarner’s questions for all but a finite number of integers.

This paper is motivated by two conjectures proposed by Bender et al. [‘Complemented zero-divisor graphs associated with finite commutative semigroups’, Comm. Algebra 52(7) (2024), 2852–2867], which have remained open questions. The first conjecture states that if the complemented zero-divisor graph $ G(S) $ of a commutative semigroup $ S $ with a zero element has clique number three or greater, then the reduced graph $ G_r(S) $ is isomorphic to the graph $ G(\mathcal {P}(n)) $. The second conjecture asserts that if $ G(S) $ is a complemented zero-divisor graph with clique number three or greater, then $ G(S) $ is uniquely complemented. We construct a commutative semigroup $ S $ with a zero element that serves as a counter-example to both conjectures.

We establish several new results on the existence of probability distributions on the independent sets in triangle-free graphs where each vertex is present with a given probability. This setting was introduced and studied under the name of “fractional coloring with local demands” by Kelly and Postle and is closely related to the well-studied fractional chromatic number of graphs.

Our first main result strengthens Shearer’s classic bound on independence number, proving that for every triangle-free graph G there exists a distribution over independent sets where each vertex v appears with probability $(1-o(1))\frac {\ln d_G(v)}{d_G(v)}$, resolving a conjecture by Kelly and Postle. This in turn implies new upper bounds on the fractional chromatic number of triangle-free graphs with a prescribed number of vertices or edges, which resolves a conjecture by Cames van Batenburg et al. and addresses yet another one by the same authors.

Our second main result resolves Harris’ conjecture on triangle-free d-degenerate graphs, showing that such graphs have fractional chromatic number at most $(4+o(1))\frac {d}{\ln d}$. As previously observed by various authors, this in turn has several interesting consequences. A notable example is that every triangle-free graph with minimum degree d contains a bipartite induced subgraph of minimum degree $\Omega (\log d)$. This settles a conjecture by Esperet, Kang, and Thomassé.

The main technique employed to obtain our results is the analysis of carefully designed random processes on vertex-weighted triangle-free graphs that preserve weights in expectation. The analysis of these processes yields weighted generalizations of the aforementioned results that may be of independent interest.

A simple k-coloring of a multigraph G is a decomposition of the edge multiset as a disjoint sum of k simple graphs which are referred to as colors. A subgraph H of a multigraph G is called multicolored if its edges receive distinct colors in a given simple k-coloring of G. In 2004, Keevash–Saks–Sudakov–Verstraëte introduced the k-color Turán number ${\text {ex}}_k(n,H)$, which denotes the maximum number of edges in an n-vertex multigraph that has a simple k-coloring containing no multicolored copies of H. They made a conjecture for any $r\geq 3$ and r-color-critical graph $H,$ that in the range of $k\geq \frac {r-1}{r-2}(e(H)-1)$, if n is sufficiently large, then ${\text {ex}}_k(n, H)$ is achieved by the multigraph consisting of k colors all of which are identical copies of the Turán graph $T_{r-1}(n)$. In this article, we show that this holds in the range of $k\geq 2\frac {r-1}{r}(e(H)-1)$, significantly improving earlier results. Our proof combines the stability argument of Chakraborti–Kim–Lee–Liu–Seo with a novel graph packing technique for embedding multigraphs.

We study several basic problems about colouring the $p$-random subgraph $G_p$ of an arbitrary graph $G$, focusing primarily on the chromatic number and colouring number of $G_p$. In particular, we show that there exist infinitely many $k$-regular graphs $G$ for which the colouring number (i.e., degeneracy) of $G_{1/2}$ is at most $k/3 + o(k)$ with high probability, thus disproving the natural prediction that such random graphs must have colouring number at least $k/2 - o(k)$.

It is consistent relative to an inaccessible cardinal that ZF+DC holds, the hypergraph of equilateral triangles on a given Euclidean space has countable chromatic number, while the hypergraph of isosceles triangles on $\mathbb {R}^2$ does not.

Ramsey’s theorem guarantees for every graph H that any 2-edge-coloring of a sufficiently large complete graph contains a monochromatic copy of H. In 1962, Erdős conjectured that the random 2-edge-coloring minimizes the number of monochromatic copies of $K_k$, and the conjecture was extended by Burr and Rosta to all graphs. In the late 1980s, the conjectures were disproved by Thomason and Sidorenko, respectively. A classification of graphs whose number of monochromatic copies is minimized by the random 2-edge-coloring, which are referred to as common graphs, remains a challenging open problem. If Sidorenko’s conjecture, one of the most significant open problems in extremal graph theory, is true, then every 2-chromatic graph is common and, in fact, no 2-chromatic common graph unsettled for Sidorenko’s conjecture is known. While examples of 3-chromatic common graphs were known for a long time, the existence of a 4-chromatic common graph was open until 2012, and no common graph with a larger chromatic number is known.

We construct connected k-chromatic common graphs for every k. This answers a question posed by Hatami et al. [Non-three-colourable common graphs exist, Combin. Probab. Comput. 21 (2012), 734–742], and a problem listed by Conlon et al. [Recent developments in graph Ramsey theory, in Surveys in combinatorics 2015, London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series, vol. 424 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2015), 49–118, Problem 2.28]. This also answers in a stronger form the question raised by Jagger et al. [Multiplicities of subgraphs, Combinatorica 16 (1996), 123–131] whether there exists a common graph with chromatic number at least four.

We prove a full measurable version of Vizing’s theorem for bounded degree Borel graphs, that is, we show that every Borel graph $\mathcal {G}$ of degree uniformly bounded by $\Delta \in \mathbb {N}$ defined on a standard probability space $(X,\mu )$ admits a $\mu $-measurable proper edge coloring with $(\Delta +1)$-many colors. This answers a question of Marks [Question 4.9, J. Amer. Math. Soc. 29 (2016)] also stated in Kechris and Marks as a part of [Problem 6.13, survey (2020)], and extends the result of the author and Pikhurko [Adv. Math. 374, (2020)], who derived the same conclusion under the additional assumption that the measure $\mu $ is $\mathcal {G}$-invariant.

A graph G is called chromatic-choosable if $\chi (G)=ch(G)$. A natural problem is to determine the minimum number of vertices in a non-chromatic-choosable graph with given chromatic number. It was conjectured by Ohba, and proved by Noel, Reed, and Wu that k-chromatic graphs G with $|V(G)| \le 2k+1$ are chromatic-choosable. This upper bound on $|V(G)|$ is tight. It is known that if k is even, then $G=K_{3 \star (k/2+1), 1 \star (k/2-1)}$ and $G=K_{4, 2 \star (k-1)}$ are non-chromatic-choosable k-chromatic graphs with $|V(G)| =2 k+2$. Some subgraphs of these two graphs are also non-chromatic-choosable. The main result of this paper is that all other k-chromatic graphs G with $|V(G)| =2 k+2$ are chromatic-choosable. In particular, if $\chi (G)$ is odd and $|V(G)| \le 2\chi (G)+2$, then G is chromatic-choosable, which was conjectured by Noel.

Let $r$ be any positive integer. We prove that for every sufficiently large $k$ there exists a $k$-chromatic vertex-critical graph $G$ such that $\chi (G-R)=k$ for every set $R \subseteq E(G)$ with $|R|\le r$. This partially solves a problem posed by Erdős in 1985, who asked whether the above statement holds for $k \ge 4$.

Let G and H be two vertex disjoint graphs. The join $G+H$ is the graph with $V(G+H)=V(G)+V(H)$ and $E(G+H)=E(G)\cup E(H)\cup \{xy\;|\; x\in V(G), y\in V(H)\}$. A (finite) linear forest is a graph consisting of (finite) vertex disjoint paths. We prove that for any finite linear forest F and any nonnull graph H, if $\{F, H\}$-free graphs have a $\chi $-binding function $f(\omega )$, then $\{F, K_n+H\}$-free graphs have a $\chi $-binding function $kf(\omega )$ for some constant k.

We investigate the list packing number of a graph, the least $k$ such that there are always $k$ disjoint proper list-colourings whenever we have lists all of size $k$ associated to the vertices. We are curious how the behaviour of the list packing number contrasts with that of the list chromatic number, particularly in the context of bounded degree graphs. The main question we pursue is whether every graph with maximum degree $\Delta$ has list packing number at most $\Delta +1$. Our results highlight the subtleties of list packing and the barriers to, for example, pursuing a Brooks’-type theorem for the list packing number.

We introduce new types of examples of bounded degree acyclic Borel graphs and study their combinatorial properties in the context of descriptive combinatorics, using a generalization of the determinacy method of Marks [Mar16]. The motivation for the construction comes from the adaptation of this method to the $\mathsf {LOCAL}$ model of distributed computing [BCG+21]. Our approach unifies the previous results in the area, as well as produces new ones. In particular, strengthening the main result of [TV21], we show that for $\Delta>2$, it is impossible to give a simple characterization of acyclic $\Delta $-regular Borel graphs with Borel chromatic number at most $\Delta $: such graphs form a $\mathbf {\Sigma }^1_2$-complete set. This implies a strong failure of Brooks-like theorems in the Borel context.

A collection of graphs is nearly disjoint if every pair of them intersects in at most one vertex. We prove that if $G_1, \dots, G_m$ are nearly disjoint graphs of maximum degree at most $D$, then the following holds. For every fixed $C$, if each vertex $v \in \bigcup _{i=1}^m V(G_i)$ is contained in at most $C$ of the graphs $G_1, \dots, G_m$, then the (list) chromatic number of $\bigcup _{i=1}^m G_i$ is at most $D + o(D)$. This result confirms a special case of a conjecture of Vu and generalizes Kahn’s bound on the list chromatic index of linear uniform hypergraphs of bounded maximum degree. In fact, this result holds for the correspondence (or DP) chromatic number and thus implies a recent result of Molloy and Postle, and we derive this result from a more general list colouring result in the setting of ‘colour degrees’ that also implies a result of Reed and Sudakov.

Given a graph $H$, let us denote by $f_\chi (H)$ and $f_\ell (H)$, respectively, the maximum chromatic number and the maximum list chromatic number of $H$-minor-free graphs. Hadwiger’s famous colouring conjecture from 1943 states that $f_\chi (K_t)=t-1$ for every $t \ge 2$. A closely related problem that has received significant attention in the past concerns $f_\ell (K_t)$, for which it is known that $2t-o(t) \le f_\ell (K_t) \le O(t (\!\log \log t)^6)$. Thus, $f_\ell (K_t)$ is bounded away from the conjectured value $t-1$ for $f_\chi (K_t)$ by at least a constant factor. The so-called $H$-Hadwiger’s conjecture, proposed by Seymour, asks to prove that $f_\chi (H)={\textrm{v}}(H)-1$ for a given graph $H$ (which would be implied by Hadwiger’s conjecture).

In this paper, we prove several new lower bounds on $f_\ell (H)$, thus exploring the limits of a list colouring extension of $H$-Hadwiger’s conjecture. Our main results are:

• For every $\varepsilon \gt 0$ and all sufficiently large graphs $H$ we have $f_\ell (H)\ge (1-\varepsilon )({\textrm{v}}(H)+\kappa (H))$, where $\kappa (H)$ denotes the vertex-connectivity of $H$.

• For every $\varepsilon \gt 0$ there exists $C=C(\varepsilon )\gt 0$ such that asymptotically almost every $n$-vertex graph $H$ with $\left \lceil C n\log n\right \rceil$ edges satisfies $f_\ell (H)\ge (2-\varepsilon )n$.

The first result generalizes recent results on complete and complete bipartite graphs and shows that the list chromatic number of $H$-minor-free graphs is separated from the desired value of $({\textrm{v}}(H)-1)$ by a constant factor for all large graphs $H$ of linear connectivity. The second result tells us that for almost all graphs $H$ with superlogarithmic average degree $f_\ell (H)$ is separated from $({\textrm{v}}(H)-1)$ by a constant factor arbitrarily close to $2$. Conceptually these results indicate that the graphs $H$ for which $f_\ell (H)$ is close to the conjectured value $({\textrm{v}}(H)-1)$ for $f_\chi (H)$ are typically rather sparse.

It is consistent relative to an inaccessible cardinal that ZF+DC holds, and the hypergraph of isosceles triangles on $\mathbb {R}^2$ has countable chromatic number while the hypergraph of isosceles triangles on $\mathbb {R}^3$ has uncountable chromatic number.

A graph is called $k$-critical if its chromatic number is $k$ but every proper subgraph has chromatic number less than $k$. An old and important problem in graph theory asks to determine the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex $k$-critical graph. This is widely open for every integer $k\geq 4$. Using a structural characterisation of Greenwell and Lovász and an extremal result of Simonovits, Stiebitz proved in 1987 that for $k\geq 4$ and sufficiently large $n$, this maximum number is less than the number of edges in the $n$-vertex balanced complete $(k-2)$-partite graph. In this paper, we obtain the first improvement in the above result in the past 35 years. Our proofs combine arguments from extremal graph theory as well as some structural analysis. A key lemma we use indicates a partial structure in dense $k$-critical graphs, which may be of independent interest.