On the Upper Line-Distinguishing and Upper Harmonious Chromatic Numbers of a Graph

Guantao Chen1, Gayla S. Domke1, Johannes H. Hattingh1, Renu C. Laskar2
1Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, U.S.A.
2Department of Mathematical Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, U.S.A.

Abstract

We introduce and study two new parameters, namely the upper harmonious chromatic number, \(H(G)\), and the upper line-distinguishing chromatic number, \(H'(G)\), of a graph \(G\).
\(H(G)\) is defined as the maximum cardinality of a minimal harmonious coloring of a graph \(G\), while \(H'(G)\) is defined as the maximum cardinality of a minimal line-distinguishing coloring of a graph \(G\).
We show that the decision problems corresponding to the computation of the upper line-distinguishing and upper harmonious chromatic numbers are NP-complete for general graphs \(G\).
We then determine \(H'(P_n)\) and \(H(P_n)\).
Lastly, we show that \(H\) and \(H’\) are incomparable, even for trees.