Star coloring splitting graphs of cycles

Abstract

A star coloring of a graph $G$ is a proper vertex coloring such that the subgraph induced by any pair of color classes is a star forest. The star chromatic number of $G$ is the minimum number of colors needed to star color $G$. In this paper we determine the star-chromatic number of the splitting graphs of cycles of length $n$ with $n \equiv 1 \pmod 3$ and $n=5$, resolving an open question of Furnma\'nczyk, Kowsalya, and Vernold Vivin.