Counterexamples to the List Square Coloring Conjecture

Abstract

The square $G^2$ of a graph $G$ is the graph defined on $V(G)$ such that two vertices $u$ and $v$ are adjacent in $G^2$ if the distance between $u$ and $v$ in $G$ is at most 2. Let $\chi(H)$ and $\chi_l(H)$ be the chromatic number and the list chromatic number of $H$, respectively. A graph $H$ is called {\em chromatic-choosable} if $\chi_l (H) = \chi(H)$. It is an interesting problem to find graphs that are chromatic-choosable. Kostochka and Woodall \cite{KW2001} conjectured that $\chi_l(G^2) = \chi(G^2)$ for every graph $G$, which is called List Square Coloring Conjecture. In this paper, we give infinitely many counterexamples to the conjecture. Moreover, we show that the value $\chi_l(G^2) - \chi(G^2)$ can be arbitrary large.