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Abstract Given a multigraph$$G=(V,E)$$, the edge-coloring problem (ECP) is to color the edges ofGwith the minimum number of colors so that no two adjacent edges have the same color. This problem can be naturally formulated as an integer program, and its linear programming relaxation is referred to as the fractional edge-coloring problem (FECP). The optimal value of ECP (resp. FECP) is called the chromatic index (resp. fractional chromatic index) ofG, denoted by$$\chi '(G)$$(resp.$$\chi ^*(G)$$). Let$$\Delta (G)$$be the maximum degree ofGand let$$\Gamma (G)$$be the density ofG, defined by$$\begin{aligned} \Gamma (G)=\max \left\{ \frac{2|E(U)|}{|U|-1}:\,\, U \subseteq V, \,\, |U|\ge 3 \hspace{5.69054pt}\textrm{and} \hspace{5.69054pt}\textrm{odd} \right\} , \end{aligned}$$whereE(U) is the set of all edges ofGwith both ends inU. Clearly,$$\max \{\Delta (G), \, \lceil \Gamma (G) \rceil \}$$is a lower bound for$$\chi '(G)$$. As shown by Seymour,$$\chi ^*(G)=\max \{\Delta (G), \, \Gamma (G)\}$$. In the early 1970s Goldberg and Seymour independently conjectured that$$\chi '(G) \le \max \{\Delta (G)+1, \, \lceil \Gamma (G) \rceil \}$$. Over the past five decades this conjecture, a cornerstone in modern edge-coloring, has been a subject of extensive research, and has stimulated an important body of work. In this paper we present a proof of this conjecture. Our result implies that, first, there are only two possible values for$$\chi '(G)$$, so an analogue to Vizing’s theorem on edge-colorings of simple graphs holds for multigraphs; second, although it isNP-hard in general to determine$$\chi '(G)$$, we can approximate it within one of its true value, and find it exactly in polynomial time when$$\Gamma (G)>\Delta (G)$$; third, every multigraphGsatisfies$$\chi '(G)-\chi ^*(G) \le 1$$, and thus FECP has a fascinating integer rounding property.
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This content will become publicly available on April 11, 2026
Edge Cover Through Edge Coloring
Let $$G$$ be a multigraph. A subset $$F$$ of $E(G)$ is an edge cover of $$G$$ if every vertex of $$G$$ is incident to an edge of $$F$$. The cover index, $$\xi(G)$$, is the largest number of edge covers into which the edges of $$G$$ can be partitioned. Clearly $$\xi(G) \le \delta(G)$$, the minimum degree of $$G$$. For $$U\subseteq V(G)$$, denote by $E^+(U)$ the set of edges incident to a vertex of $$U$$. When $|U|$ is odd, to cover all the vertices of $$U$$, any edge cover needs to contain at least $(|U|+1)/2$ edges from $E^+(U)$, indicating $$ \xi(G) \le |E^+(U)|/ ((|U|+1)/2)$$. Let $$\rho_c(G)$$, the co-density of $$G$$, be defined as the minimum of $|E^+(U)|/((|U|+1)/2)$ ranging over all $$U\subseteq V(G)$$, where $$|U| \ge 3$$ and $|U|$ is odd. Then $$\rho_c(G)$$ provides another upper bound on $$\xi(G)$$. Thus $$\xi(G) \le \min\{\delta(G), \lfloor \rho_c(G) \rfloor \}$$. For a lower bound on $$\xi(G)$$, in 1978, Gupta conjectured that $$\xi(G) \ge \min\{\delta(G)-1, \lfloor \rho_c(G) \rfloor \}$$. Gupta himself verified the conjecture for simple graphs, and Cao et al. recently verified this conjecture when $$\rho_c(G)$$ is not an integer. In this paper, we confirm the conjecture when the maximum multiplicity of $$G$$ is at most two or $$ \min\{\delta(G)-1, \lfloor \rho_c(G) \rfloor \} \le 6$$. The proof relies on a newly established result on edge colorings. The result holds independent interest and has the potential to significantly contribute towards resolving the conjecture entirely.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2345869
- PAR ID:
- 10648718
- Publisher / Repository:
- the electronic journal of combinatorics
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Electronic Journal of Combinatorics
- Volume:
- 32
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 1077-8926
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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