NEW Theorem 1.15 (Tait correspondence for tires):
#{4-colorings of T} / |S_4| = #{3-edge-colorings of Γ} / |S_3|
That is, the number of 4-vertex-colorings of the tire T up to
color permutation equals the number of 3-edge-colorings of the
inner dual Γ up to color permutation.
Proof: standard Tait. Encode 4 colors as Z_2 × Z_2; define
χ*(e*) = c(u) + c(v) for each interior annular edge. The
triangulation constraint guarantees χ* is a proper 3-edge-coloring
of Γ; the lift c → χ* is 4-to-1 (global Z_2 × Z_2 translation).
Quotienting by |S_4| = 24 and |S_3| = 6 gives the stated equality.
NEW Theorem 1.16 (count formula):
(i) For spoke-only tires (Γ ≅ C_n):
#{proper 3-edge-colorings of Γ} = 2^n + 2(-1)^n.
(ii) For single-chord tires (Γ ≅ Θ(1, b, c), b + c = n):
#{proper 3-edge-colorings of Γ} = 6(α_b α_c + β_b β_c),
where α_L = (2^{L-1} + 2(-1)^{L-1})/3,
β_L = (2^{L-1} - (-1)^{L-1})/3.
Verification: Θ(1, 2, 2) = K_4 \ e gives 6.
Proofs:
(i) Standard chromatic polynomial of cycle at k = 3.
(ii) Transfer matrix on the two non-chord paths with chord
color fixed and endpoint configurations enumerated.
Remark 1.17: For more chords, the count depends on the chord
arrangement, not just (n, k). Two outerplanar graphs with the
same vertex and chord counts can have different 3-edge-coloring
counts. But linear-time computation via tree decomposition
(treewidth ≤ 2 for outerplanar) is always available.
Added Tait's 1880 paper as bibitem.
Page count: 11 → 12. Theorem 1.18 (tree structure) renumbered from
1.15 to 1.18 to make room.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
didericis
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