DP color functions versus chromatic polynomials for hypergraphs (I)
Ruiyi Cui, Liangxia Wan, Fengming Dong
TL;DR
This work extends the comparison between DP-coloring and ordinary coloring from graphs to hypergraphs, focusing on how cycle structure, particularly even girth, and edge configurations influence the DP color function $P_{DP}(\mathcal{H},k)$. It develops asymptotic results showing that for connected linear $r$-uniform hypergraphs with even girth (and for certain edge configurations), $P_{DP}(\mathcal{H},k)$ eventually falls below $P(\mathcal{H},k)$ as $k$ grows. It also establishes that joining a hypergraph with a clique, $\mathcal{H} \vee K_p$, can, under uniformity and large $k$, yield equality between the DP color function and the chromatic polynomial, i.e., $P_{DP}(\mathcal{H} \vee K_p,k)=P(\mathcal{H} \vee K_p,k)$. The results extend core graph-theoretic insights to hypergraphs via deletion-contraction, $k$-fold covers, and level-mapping techniques, enriching understanding of when DP-coloring imposes new restrictions beyond ordinary coloring in hypergraph settings.
Abstract
For a hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$, the DP color function $P_{DP}(\mathcal{H},k)$ of $\mathcal{H}$ is an extension of the chromatic polynomial $P(\mathcal{H},k)$ with the property that $P_{DP}(\mathcal{H},k) \le P(\mathcal{H},k)$ for all positive integers $k$. In this article, we primarily investigate the influence of the minimum cycle length on the DP-coloring function, as well as the relevant properties of the DP-coloring function of $\mathcal{H} \vee K_p$ (i.e., the join of $\mathcal{H}$ and $K_p$). We show that for any linear and uniform hypergraph $\mathcal H$ with even girth, there exists a positive integer $N$ such that $P_{DP} (\mathcal H, k) < P(\mathcal H, k)$ for all integers $k\ge N$, and this conclusion also holds for any hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ that contains an edge $e$ with the properties that $\mathcal{H}-e$ has exactly $|e|-1$ components and any shortest cycle in $\mathcal{H}$ containing $e$ is an even cycle. For the hypergraph $\mathcal{H}\vee K_p$, we prove that if $\mathcal{H}$ is uniform, then there exist positive integers $p$ and $N$ such that $P_{DP}(\mathcal{H} \vee K_p,k)=P(\mathcal{H} \vee K_p,k)$ holds for all integers $k\geq N$.