Chromatic numbers of Cayley graphs of abelian groups: Cases of small dimension and rank

Abstract

A connected Cayley graph on an abelian group with a finite generating set $S$ can be represented by its Heuberger matrix, i.e., an integer matrix whose columns generate the group of relations between members of $S$. In a previous article, the authors laid the foundation for the use of Heuberger matrices to study chromatic numbers of abelian Cayley graphs. We call the number of rows in the Heuberger matrix the {\it dimension}, and the number of columns the {\it rank}. In this paper, we give precise numerical conditions that completely determine the chromatic number in all cases with dimension $1$; with rank $1$; and with dimension $\leq 3$ and rank $\leq 2$. For such a graph without loops, we show that it is $4$-colorable if and only if it does not contain a $5$-clique, and it is $3$-colorable if and only if it contains neither a diamond lanyard nor a $C_{13}(1,5)$, both of which we define herein. It is shown in another paper that as a special case of our theorem for dimension $3$ and rank $2$, we obtain improved upper bounds for minimal periods of optimal colorings of $6$-valent integer distance graphs.