Note on 3-Choosability of Planar Graphs with Maximum Degree 4

Abstract

Deciding whether a planar graph (even of maximum degree $4$) is $3$-colorable is NP-complete. Determining subclasses of planar graphs being $3$-colorable has a long history, but since Gr\"{o}tzsch's result that triangle-free planar graphs are such, most of the effort was focused to solving Havel's and Steinberg's conjectures. In this paper, we prove that every planar graph of maximum degree $4$ obtained as a subgraph of the medial graph of any bipartite plane graph is $3$-choosable. These graphs are allowed to have close triangles (even incident), and have no short cycles forbidden, hence representing an entirely different class than the graphs inferred by the above mentioned conjectures.