Parameterized Saga of First-Fit and Last-Fit Coloring

Abstract

The classic greedy coloring algorithm considers the vertices of an input graph G in a given order and assigns the first available color to each vertex v in G. In the Grundy Coloring problem, the task is to find an ordering of the vertices that will force the greedy algorithm to use as many colors as possible. In the Partial Grundy Coloring, the task is also to color the graph using as many colors as possible. This time, however, we may select both the ordering in which the vertices are considered and which color to assign the vertex. The only constraint is that the color assigned to a vertex v is a color previously used for another vertex if such a color is available. 
Whether Grundy Coloring and Partial Grundy Coloring admit fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) algorithms, algorithms with running time f(k)n^O(1), where k is the number of colors, was posed as an open problem by Zaker and by Effantin et al., respectively.
Recently, Aboulker et al. (STACS 2020 and Algorithmica 2022) resolved the question for Grundy Coloring in the negative by showing that the problem is W[1]-hard. For Partial Grundy Coloring, they obtain an FPT algorithm on graphs that do not contain K_{i,j} as a subgraph (a.k.a. K_{i,j}-free graphs). Aboulker et al. re-iterate the question of whether there exists an FPT algorithm for Partial Grundy Coloring on general graphs and also asks whether Grundy Coloring admits an FPT algorithm on K_{i,j}-free graphs. We give FPT algorithms for Partial Grundy Coloring on general graphs and for Grundy Coloring on K_{i,j}-free graphs, resolving both the questions in the affirmative. We believe that our new structural theorems for partial Grundy coloring and "representative-family" like sets for K_{i,j}-free graphs that we use in obtaining our results may have wider algorithmic applications.