Add edge-deletion subgraph 4-colorability for a minimal counterexample

Defines D(G) as the family of single-edge-deletion spanning subgraphs
of a maximal planar graph G, and shows that when G_0 is a minimum-order
5-chromatic maximal planar graph every member of D(G_0) is 4-colorable,
via a coloring pulled back from the smaller minor G_0/uv.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-05-14 00:27:11 -04:00
parent bd409585ba
commit f6144b98b5
6 changed files with 53 additions and 15 deletions
@@ -8,10 +8,13 @@
\newlabel{thm:min-five-chromatic-not-flip-symmetric}{{4.1}{2}}
\@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {section}{\tocsection {}{5}{Flip symmetry frequency}}{2}{}\protected@file@percent }
\newlabel{sec:frequency}{{5}{2}}
\@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {section}{\tocsection {}{6}{Further necessary properties of a minimal counterexample}}{3}{}\protected@file@percent }
\newlabel{tocindent-1}{0pt}
\newlabel{tocindent0}{0pt}
\newlabel{tocindent1}{17.77782pt}
\newlabel{tocindent2}{0pt}
\newlabel{tocindent3}{0pt}
\@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {section}{\tocsection {}{6}{Further necessary properties of a minimal counterexample}}{3}{}\protected@file@percent }
\@writefile{toc}{\contentsline {section}{\tocsection {}{7}{Edge-deletion subgraphs}}{4}{}\protected@file@percent }
\newlabel{def:edge-deletion}{{7.1}{4}}
\newlabel{thm:edge-deletion-4colorable}{{7.2}{4}}
\gdef \@abspage@last{4}
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
# Fdb version 3
["pdflatex"] 1778732276 "paper.tex" "paper.pdf" "paper" 1778732276
["pdflatex"] 1778732745 "paper.tex" "paper.pdf" "paper" 1778732746
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/map/fontname/texfonts.map" 1577235249 3524 cb3e574dea2d1052e39280babc910dc8 ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/tfm/public/amsfonts/cmextra/cmex7.tfm" 1246382020 1004 54797486969f23fa377b128694d548df ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/tfm/public/amsfonts/cmextra/cmex8.tfm" 1246382020 988 bdf658c3bfc2d96d3c8b02cfc1c94c20 ""
@@ -29,9 +29,11 @@
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmr7.pfb" 1248133631 32762 224316ccc9ad3ca0423a14971cfa7fc1 ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmr8.pfb" 1248133631 32726 0a1aea6fcd6468ee2cf64d891f5c43c8 ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmsy10.pfb" 1248133631 32569 5e5ddc8df908dea60932f3c484a54c0d ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmsy7.pfb" 1248133631 32716 08e384dc442464e7285e891af9f45947 ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmti10.pfb" 1248133631 37944 359e864bd06cde3b1cf57bb20757fb06 ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmti8.pfb" 1248133631 35660 fb24af7afbadb71801619f1415838111 ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmtt10.pfb" 1248133631 31099 c85edf1dd5b9e826d67c9c7293b6786c ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/symbols/msam10.pfb" 1248133631 31764 459c573c03a4949a528c2cc7f557e217 ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/mkii/supp-pdf.mkii" 1461363279 71627 94eb9990bed73c364d7f53f960cc8c5b ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/tex/generic/pgf/basiclayer/pgfcore.code.tex" 1601326656 992 855ff26741653ab54814101ca36e153c ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/tex/generic/pgf/basiclayer/pgfcorearrows.code.tex" 1601326656 43820 1fef971b75380574ab35a0d37fd92608 ""
@@ -120,8 +122,8 @@
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-var/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map" 1647878959 4410336 7d30a02e9fa9a16d7d1f8d037ba69641 ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-var/web2c/pdftex/pdflatex.fmt" 1665017617 2826443 7e98410c533054b636c6470db83a27bc ""
"/usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf.cnf" 1647878952 577 209b46be99c9075fd74d4c0369380e8c ""
"paper.aux" 1778732276 1234 809d17d72706986551d4267509a33a08 "pdflatex"
"paper.tex" 1778732267 11154 4367545e63b37b360cb8c3c1c287d046 ""
"paper.aux" 1778732746 1438 b028da99404765220b31b8b219d41cca "pdflatex"
"paper.tex" 1778732735 12434 2966cec5ecd6b41acdbce2ab2207a710 ""
(generated)
"paper.aux"
"paper.log"
@@ -445,6 +445,8 @@ INPUT /usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmr10.pf
INPUT /usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmr7.pfb
INPUT /usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmr8.pfb
INPUT /usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmsy10.pfb
INPUT /usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmsy7.pfb
INPUT /usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmti10.pfb
INPUT /usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmti8.pfb
INPUT /usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmtt10.pfb
INPUT /usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/symbols/msam10.pfb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-1.40.24 (TeX Live 2022) (preloaded format=pdflatex 2022.10.5) 14 MAY 2026 00:17
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-1.40.24 (TeX Live 2022) (preloaded format=pdflatex 2022.10.5) 14 MAY 2026 00:25
entering extended mode
restricted \write18 enabled.
%&-line parsing enabled.
@@ -504,10 +504,10 @@ hs \OT1/cmr/m/n/10 with \OT1/cmtt/m/n/10 minimum[]connectivity $\OT1/cmr/m/n/10
[2] [3] [4] (./paper.aux) )
Here is how much of TeX's memory you used:
13153 strings out of 478268
265523 string characters out of 5846347
542761 words of memory out of 5000000
30991 multiletter control sequences out of 15000+600000
13155 strings out of 478268
265572 string characters out of 5846347
542781 words of memory out of 5000000
30993 multiletter control sequences out of 15000+600000
475834 words of font info for 54 fonts, out of 8000000 for 9000
1302 hyphenation exceptions out of 8191
100i,8n,104p,386b,794s stack positions out of 10000i,1000n,20000p,200000b,200000s
@@ -521,13 +521,15 @@ sfonts/cm/cmr10.pfb></usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsf
onts/cm/cmr7.pfb></usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfont
s/cm/cmr8.pfb></usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/c
m/cmsy10.pfb></usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm
/cmti10.pfb></usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/
cmti8.pfb></usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cm
tt10.pfb>
Output written on paper.pdf (4 pages, 165847 bytes).
/cmsy7.pfb></usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/c
mti10.pfb></usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cm
ti8.pfb></usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmtt
10.pfb></usr/local/texlive/2022/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/symbols/
msam10.pfb>
Output written on paper.pdf (4 pages, 186074 bytes).
PDF statistics:
80 PDF objects out of 1000 (max. 8388607)
49 compressed objects within 1 object stream
90 PDF objects out of 1000 (max. 8388607)
55 compressed objects within 1 object stream
0 named destinations out of 1000 (max. 500000)
13 words of extra memory for PDF output out of 10000 (max. 10000000)
@@ -289,6 +289,35 @@ to identifying further necessary properties of a minimum-order
$5$-chromatic maximal planar graph, of which flip-asymmetry is the
first.
\section{Edge-deletion subgraphs}
\begin{definition}[Edge-deletion subgraph]\label{def:edge-deletion}
Let $G$ be a maximal planar graph and $uv \in E(G)$. The
\emph{edge-deletion subgraph at $uv$} is the spanning subgraph
$G - uv = (V(G),\,E(G) \setminus \{uv\})$. Write
$\mathcal{D}(G) = \{G - uv : uv \in E(G)\}$.
\end{definition}
\begin{theorem}\label{thm:edge-deletion-4colorable}
Let $G_0$ be a maximal planar graph of minimum order with
$\chi(G_0) \geq 5$. Then every $H \in \mathcal{D}(G_0)$ is
$4$-colorable.
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
Fix $uv \in E(G_0)$ and let $G_0 / uv$ denote the simple planar graph
obtained by contracting $uv$ and discarding parallel edges. Since
$|V(G_0/uv)| = |V(G_0)| - 1$, the minimality of $G_0$ supplies a
proper $4$-coloring $c$ of $G_0 / uv$. Let $z$ be the contracted
vertex and define $c'\colon V(G_0) \to \{1,2,3,4\}$ by
$c'(u) = c'(v) = c(z)$ and $c'(y) = c(y)$ for $y \notin \{u, v\}$.
Every edge of $G_0 - uv$ is either disjoint from $\{u, v\}$ or
incident to exactly one of them; in either case the corresponding
edge of $G_0 / uv$ has distinct endpoints under $c$, so $c'$ assigns
its endpoints distinct colors. The edge $uv$ itself is absent from
$G_0 - uv$, so $c'$ is a proper $4$-coloring of $G_0 - uv$.
\end{proof}
\end{document}
%-----------------------------------------------------------------------