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Vertex decompositions of sparse graphs into an independent vertex set and a subgraph of maximum degree at most 1. (English) Zbl 1232.05073
Sib. Math. J. 52, No. 5, 796-801 (2011); translation from Sib. Mat. Zh. 52, No. 5, 1004-1011 (2011).
Summary: A graph $$G$$ is $$(1,0)$$-colorable if its vertex set can be partitioned into subsets $$V_1$$ and $$V_0$$ so that in $$G[V_1]$$ every vertex has degree at most 1, while $$G[V_0]$$ is edgeless. We prove that every graph with maximum average degree at most $$\frac{12}{5}$$ is $$(1,0)$$-colorable. In particular, every planar graph with girth at least 12 is $$(1,0)$$-colorable. On the other hand, we construct graphs with the maximum average degree arbitrarily close (from above) to $$\frac{12}{5}$$ which are not $$(1,0)$$-colorable. In fact, we prove a stronger result by establishing the best possible sufficient condition for the $$(1,0)$$-colorability of a graph $$G$$ in terms of the minimum, $$Ms(G)$$, of $$6|V(A)| - 5|E(A)|$$ over all subgraphs $$A$$ of $$G$$. Namely, every graph $$G$$ with $$Ms(G) \geq - 2$$ is proved to be $$(1,0)$$-colorable, and we construct an infinite series of non-$$(1,0)$$-colorable graphs $$G$$ with $$Ms(G) = -3$$.

##### MSC:
 05C15 Coloring of graphs and hypergraphs 05C70 Edge subsets with special properties (factorization, matching, partitioning, covering and packing, etc.)
##### Keywords:
planar graphs; coloring; girth
Full Text:
##### References:
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