An improvement on Brooks' Theorem

Abstract

We prove that $\chi(G) \leq \max {\omega(G), \Delta_2(G), (5/6)(\Delta(G) + 1)}$ for every graph $G$ with $\Delta(G) \geq 3$. Here $\Delta_2$ is the parameter introduced by Stacho that gives the largest degree that a vertex $v$ can have subject to the condition that $v$ is adjacent to a vertex whose degree is at least as large as its own. This upper bound generalizes both Brooks' Theorem and the Ore-degree version of Brooks' Theorem.