On interval edge-colorings of outerplanar graphs

Abstract

An edge-coloring of a graph $G$ with colors $1,\ldots,t$ is called an interval $t$-coloring if all colors are used, and the colors of edges incident to any vertex of $G$ are distinct and form an interval of integers. A graph $G$ is interval colorable if it has an interval $t$-coloring for some positive integer $t$. For an interval colorable graph $G$, the least value of $t$ for which $G$ has an interval $t$-coloring is denoted by $w(G)$. A graph $G$ is outerplanar if it can be embedded in the plane so that all its vertices lie on the same (unbounded) face. In this paper we show that if $G$ is a 2-connected outerplanar graph with $\Delta(G)=3$, then $G$ is interval colorable and \begin{center} $w(G)=\left\{\begin{tabular}{ll} 3, & if $| V(G)|$ is even, \ 4, & if $| V(G)|$ is odd. \end{tabular}% \right.$ \end{center} We also give a negative answer to the question of Axenovich on the outerplanar triangulations.