On vertex b-critical trees

Abstract

A b-coloring is a proper coloring of the vertices of a graph such that each color class has a vertex that has neighbors of all other colors. The b-chromatic number of a graph G is the largest k such that G admits a b-coloring with k colors. A graph G is b-critical if the removal of any vertex of G decreases the b-chromatic number. We prove various properties of b-critical trees. In particular, we characterize b-critical trees.

Keywords

• b-coloring
• b-critical graphs
• b-critical trees