The Dominating 4-Colour Theorem

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Girão, António, Illingworth, Freddie, Mohar, Bojan, Norin, Sergey, Steiner, Raphael, Tamitegama, Youri, Tan, Jane, Wood, David R., Yip, Jung Hon
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Girão, António
Illingworth, Freddie
Mohar, Bojan
Norin, Sergey
Steiner, Raphael
Tamitegama, Youri
Tan, Jane
Wood, David R.
Yip, Jung Hon
author_facet Girão, António
Illingworth, Freddie
Mohar, Bojan
Norin, Sergey
Steiner, Raphael
Tamitegama, Youri
Tan, Jane
Wood, David R.
Yip, Jung Hon
contents A "dominating $K_t$-model" in a graph $G$ is a sequence $(T_1,\dots,T_t)$ of pairwise vertex-disjoint connected subgraphs of $G$, such that whenever $1\leq i<j\leq t$ every vertex in $T_j$ has a neighbour in $T_i$. Replacing "every vertex in $T_j$" by "some vertex in $T_j$" retrieves the standard definition of $K_t$-model, which is equivalent to a $K_t$-minor in $G$. We prove that every graph with no dominating $K_5$-model is $4$-colourable. This generalises and is significantly stronger than the 4-colour theorem for planar graphs or for graphs with no $K_5$-minor. It also makes progress towards Hajós' conjecture on $K_5$-subdivisions in $5$-chromatic graphs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_10112
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Dominating 4-Colour Theorem
Girão, António
Illingworth, Freddie
Mohar, Bojan
Norin, Sergey
Steiner, Raphael
Tamitegama, Youri
Tan, Jane
Wood, David R.
Yip, Jung Hon
Combinatorics
Discrete Mathematics
A "dominating $K_t$-model" in a graph $G$ is a sequence $(T_1,\dots,T_t)$ of pairwise vertex-disjoint connected subgraphs of $G$, such that whenever $1\leq i<j\leq t$ every vertex in $T_j$ has a neighbour in $T_i$. Replacing "every vertex in $T_j$" by "some vertex in $T_j$" retrieves the standard definition of $K_t$-model, which is equivalent to a $K_t$-minor in $G$. We prove that every graph with no dominating $K_5$-model is $4$-colourable. This generalises and is significantly stronger than the 4-colour theorem for planar graphs or for graphs with no $K_5$-minor. It also makes progress towards Hajós' conjecture on $K_5$-subdivisions in $5$-chromatic graphs.
title The Dominating 4-Colour Theorem
topic Combinatorics
Discrete Mathematics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.10112