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The total chromatic number \(\chi_2(G)\) of a graph \(G\) is the smallest number of colors which can be assigned to the vertices and edges of \(G\) so that adjacent or incident elements are assigned different colors. For a positive integer \(m\) and the star graph \(K_{1,n}\), the mixed Ramsey number \(\chi_2(m, K_{1,n})\) is the least positive integer \(p\) such that if \(G\) is any graph of order \(p\), either \(\chi_2(G) \geq m\) or the complement \(\overline{G}\) contains \(K_{1,n}\) as a subgraph.
In this paper, we introduce the concept of total chromatic matrix and use it to show the following lower bound: \(\chi_2(m, K_{1,n}) \geq m + n – 2\) for \(m \geq 3\) and \(n \geq 1\). Combining this lower bound with the known upper bound (Fink), we obtain that \(\chi_2(m, K_{1,n}) = m + n – 2\) for \(m\) odd and \(n\) even, and \(m + n – 2 \leq \chi_2(m, K_{1,n}) \leq m + n – 1\) otherwise.