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Undecidable Generalized Colouring Problems

P. Dukes1, H. Emerson1, G. MacGillivray1
1University of Victoria, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Victoria, B.C., Canada V8W 3P4. Research supported by NSERC.

Abstract

Let \(H\) be a graph. An \(H\)-colouring of a graph \(G\) is an edge-preserving mapping of the vertices of \(G\) to the vertices of \(H\). We consider the Extendable \(H\)-colouring Problem, that is, the problem of deciding whether a partial \(H\)-colouring of some finite subset of the vertices of \(G\) can be extended to an \(H\)-colouring of \(G\). We show that, for a class of finitely described infinite graphs, Extendable \(H\)-colouring is undecidable for all finite non-bipartite graphs \(H\), and also for some finite bipartite graphs \(H\). Similar results are established when \(H\) is a finite reflexive graph.