Asymmetric Colorings of Disjoint Unions of Graphs

Abstract

The asymmetric coloring number of a graph is the minimum number of colors needed to color its vertices, so that no non-trivial automorphism preserves the color classes. We investigate the asymmetric coloring number of graphs that are disjoint unions of graphs. We will derive a general relationship between the asymmetric coloring number of disjoint copies of graphs and the number of ways to color a single copy asymmetrically, and then look at particular cases such as disjoint copies of paths, stars, cycles, and hypercubes.