Set Colorings in Perfect Graphs

(Received September 1, 2009) Abstract. For a nontrivial connected graph G, let c : V (G) → N be a vertex coloring of G where adjacent vertices may be colored the same. For a vertex v ∈ V (G), the neighborhood color set NC(v) is the set of colors of the neighbors of v. The coloring c is called a set coloring if NC(u) 6= NC(v) for every pair u, v of adjacent vertices of G. The minimum number of colors required of such a coloring is called the set chromatic number χs(G). We show that the decision variant of determining χs(G) is NP-complete in the general case, and show that χs(G) can be efficiently calculated when G is a threshold graph. We study the difference χ(G) − χs(G), presenting new bounds that are sharp for all graphs G satisfying χ(G) = ω(G). We finally present results of the Nordhaus-Gaddum type, giving sharp bounds on the sum and product of χs(G) and χs(G).