Bounded diameter variations of Ryser's conjecture

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Gyarfas, Andras, Sarkozy, Gabor N.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Gyarfas, Andras
Sarkozy, Gabor N.
author_facet Gyarfas, Andras
Sarkozy, Gabor N.
contents In this paper we study bounded diameter variations of the following form of Ryser's conjecture. For every graph $G=(V,E)$ with independence number $α(G)=α$ and integer $r\geq 2$, in every $r$-edge coloring of $G$ there is a cover of $V(G)$ by the vertices of $(r-1)α$ monochromatic connected components. Milićević initiated the question whether the diameters of the covering components can be bounded. For any graph $G$ with $α(G)=2$ we show that in every 2-coloring of the edges, $V(G)$ can be covered by the vertices of two monochromatic subgraphs of diameter at most 4. This improves a result of DeBiasio et al., which in turn improved a result of Milićević. It remains open whether diameter $4$ can be strengthened to diameter $3$, we could do this only for certain graphs, including odd antiholes. We propose also a somewhat orthogonal aspect of the problem. Suppose that we fix the diameter $d$ of the monochromatic components, how many do we need to cover the vertex set? For $d=2,2\le r \le 3$, the exact answer is $rα$ and for $d=4,r=2$, we prove the upper bound $\lfloor 3α/2\rfloor$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_02564
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Bounded diameter variations of Ryser's conjecture
Gyarfas, Andras
Sarkozy, Gabor N.
Combinatorics
In this paper we study bounded diameter variations of the following form of Ryser's conjecture. For every graph $G=(V,E)$ with independence number $α(G)=α$ and integer $r\geq 2$, in every $r$-edge coloring of $G$ there is a cover of $V(G)$ by the vertices of $(r-1)α$ monochromatic connected components. Milićević initiated the question whether the diameters of the covering components can be bounded. For any graph $G$ with $α(G)=2$ we show that in every 2-coloring of the edges, $V(G)$ can be covered by the vertices of two monochromatic subgraphs of diameter at most 4. This improves a result of DeBiasio et al., which in turn improved a result of Milićević. It remains open whether diameter $4$ can be strengthened to diameter $3$, we could do this only for certain graphs, including odd antiholes. We propose also a somewhat orthogonal aspect of the problem. Suppose that we fix the diameter $d$ of the monochromatic components, how many do we need to cover the vertex set? For $d=2,2\le r \le 3$, the exact answer is $rα$ and for $d=4,r=2$, we prove the upper bound $\lfloor 3α/2\rfloor$.
title Bounded diameter variations of Ryser's conjecture
topic Combinatorics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.02564