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The chromatic polynomial $\pi_{G}(k)$ of a graph $G$ can be viewed as counting the number of vertices in a family of coloring graphs $\mathcal C_k(G)$ associated with (proper) $k$-colorings of $G$ as a function of the number of colors $k$. These coloring graphs can be understood as a reconfiguration system. We generalize the chromatic polynomial to $\pi_G^{(H)}(k)$, counting occurrences of arbitrary induced subgraphs $H$ in these coloring graphs, and we prove that these functions are polynomial in $k$. In particular, we study the chromatic pairs polynomial $\pi_{G}^{(P_2)}(k)$, which counts the number of edges in coloring graphs, corresponding to the number of pairs of colorings that differ on a single vertex. We show two trees share a chromatic pairs polynomial if and only if they have the same degree sequence, and we conjecture that the chromatic pairs polynomial refines the chromatic polynomial in general. We also instantiate our polynomials with other choices of $H$ to generate new graph invariants., Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures

We present a new correspondence between acyclic orientations and coloring of a signed graph (symmetric graph). Goodall et al. introduced a bivariate chromatic polynomial $\chi_G(k,l)$ that counts the number of signed colorings using colors $0,\pm1,\dots,\pm k$ along with $l-1$ symmetric colors $0_1,\dots,0_{l-1}$. We show that the evaluation of the bivariate chromatic polynomial $|\chi_G(-1,2)|$ is equal to the number of acyclic orientations of the signed graph modulo the equivalence relation generated by swapping sources and sinks. We present three proofs of this fact, a proof using toric hyperplane arrangements, a proof using deletion-contraction, and a direct proof., Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures

A topological index of a graph $G$ is a real number which is preserved under isomorphism. Extensive studies on certain polynomials related to these topological indices have also been done recently. In a similar way, chromatic versions of certain topological indices and the related polynomials have also been discussed in the recent literature. In this paper, the chromatic version of the Schultz polynomial is introduced and determined this polynomial for certain fundamental graph classes., Comment: 11 pages, 5 tables

In 1971, Tomescu conjectured [Le nombre des graphes connexes $k$-chromatiques minimaux aux sommets \'etiquet\'es, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 273 (1971), 1124--1126] that every connected graph $G$ on $n$ vertices with $\chi(G) = k \geq 4$ has at most $k!(k-1)^{n-k}$ $k$-colourings, where equality holds if and only if the graph is formed from $K_k$ by repeatedly adding leaves. In this note we prove (a strengthening of) the conjecture of Tomescu when $k=5$.

In this paper, we present some properties on chromatic polynomials of hypergraphs which do not hold for chromatic polynomials of graphs. We first show that chromatic polynomials of hypergraphs have all integers as their zeros and contain dense real zeros in the set of real numbers. We then prove that for any multigraph $G=(V,E)$, the number of totally cyclic orientations of $G$ is equal to the value of $|P(H,-1)|$, where $P(H,\lambda)$ is the chromatic polynomial of a hypergraph $H$ which is constructed from $G$. Finally we show that the multiplicity of root "$0$" of $P(H,\lambda)$ may be at least $2$ for some connected hypergraphs $H$, and the multiplicity of root "$1$" of $P(H,\lambda)$ may be $1$ for some connected and separable hypergraphs $H$ and may be $2$ for some connected and non-separable hypergraphs $H$., Comment: 3 figures, 22 pages, 48 references. Accepted for publication in the European Journal of Combinatorics

Chromatic polynomials have been studied extensively, giving us results such as the Fundamental Reduction Theorem and closed formulas for the chromatic polynomials of common classes of graphs. Though, none of those extend to the context of fractional colorings. We thus present closed formulas for the "fractional" chromatic polynomial - a function that counts the number of distinct $b$-fold $\lambda$-colorings on a given graph - of complete graphs, trees and forests, as well as a generalized form of the Fundamental Reduction Theorem., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

It is known that every loopless cubic graph is 4-edge choosable. We prove the following strengthened result. Let G be a planar cubic graph having b cut-edges. There exists a set F of at most 5b/2 edges of G with the following property. For any function L which assigns to each edge of F a set of 4 colours and which assigns to each edge in E(G)-F a set of 3 colours, the graph G has a proper edge colouring where the colour of each edge e belongs to L(e)., Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure

Tutte proved that if $G_{pt}$ is a planar triangulation and $P(G_{pt},q)$ is its chromatic polynomial, then $|P(G_{pt},\tau+1)| \le (\tau-1)^{n-5}$, where $\tau=(1+\sqrt{5} \,)/2$ and $n$ is the number of vertices in $G_{pt}$. Here we study the ratio $r(G_{pt})=|P(G_{pt},\tau+1)|/(\tau-1)^{n-5}$ for a variety of planar triangulations. We construct infinite recursive families of planar triangulations $G_{pt,m}$ depending on a parameter $m$ linearly related to $n$ and show that if $P(G_{pt,m},q)$ only involves a single power of a polynomial, then $r(G_{pt,m})$ approaches zero exponentially fast as $n \to \infty$. We also construct infinite recursive families for which $P(G_{pt,m},q)$ is a sum of powers of certain functions and show that for these, $r(G_{pt,m})$ may approach a finite nonzero constant as $n \to \infty$. The connection between the Tutte upper bound and the observed chromatic zero(s) near to $\tau+1$ is investigated. We report the first known graph for which the zero(s) closest to $\tau+1$ is not real, but instead is a complex-conjugate pair. Finally, we discuss connections with nonzero ground-state entropy of the Potts antiferromagnet on these families of graphs.