On cuts of small chromatic number in sparse graphs

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Aubian, Guillaume, Bonamy, Marthe, Bourneuf, Romain, Fontaine, Oscar, Picasarri-Arrieta, Lucas
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Aubian, Guillaume
Bonamy, Marthe
Bourneuf, Romain
Fontaine, Oscar
Picasarri-Arrieta, Lucas
author_facet Aubian, Guillaume
Bonamy, Marthe
Bourneuf, Romain
Fontaine, Oscar
Picasarri-Arrieta, Lucas
contents For a given integer $k$, let $\ell_k$ denote the supremum $\ell$ such that every sufficiently large graph $G$ with average degree less than $2\ell$ admits a separator $X \subseteq V(G)$ for which $χ(G[X]) < k$. Motivated by the values of $\ell_1$, $\ell_2$ and $\ell_3$, a natural conjecture suggests that $\ell_k = k$ for all $k$. We prove that this conjecture fails dramatically: asymptotically, the trivial lower bound $\ell_k \geq \tfrac{k}{2}$ is tight. More precisely, we prove that for every $\varepsilon>0$ and all sufficiently large $k$, we have $\ell_k \leq (1+\varepsilon)\tfrac{k}{2}$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_01791
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On cuts of small chromatic number in sparse graphs
Aubian, Guillaume
Bonamy, Marthe
Bourneuf, Romain
Fontaine, Oscar
Picasarri-Arrieta, Lucas
Combinatorics
Discrete Mathematics
For a given integer $k$, let $\ell_k$ denote the supremum $\ell$ such that every sufficiently large graph $G$ with average degree less than $2\ell$ admits a separator $X \subseteq V(G)$ for which $χ(G[X]) < k$. Motivated by the values of $\ell_1$, $\ell_2$ and $\ell_3$, a natural conjecture suggests that $\ell_k = k$ for all $k$. We prove that this conjecture fails dramatically: asymptotically, the trivial lower bound $\ell_k \geq \tfrac{k}{2}$ is tight. More precisely, we prove that for every $\varepsilon>0$ and all sufficiently large $k$, we have $\ell_k \leq (1+\varepsilon)\tfrac{k}{2}$.
title On cuts of small chromatic number in sparse graphs
topic Combinatorics
Discrete Mathematics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.01791