Proper conflict-free choosability of planar graphs

Abstract

A proper conflict-free coloring of a graph is a proper vertex coloring wherein each non-isolated vertex's open neighborhood contains at least one color appearing exactly once. For a non-negative integer $k$, a graph $G$ is said to be proper conflict-free (degree+$k$)-choosable if given any list assignment $L$ for $G$ where $|L(v)| = d(v) + k$ holds for every vertex $v \in V(G)$, there exists a proper conflict-free coloring $\phi$ of $G$ such that $\phi(v) \in L(v)$ for all $v \in V(G)$. Recently, Kashima, \v{S}krekovski, and Xu proposed two related conjectures on proper conflict-free choosability: the first asserts the existence of an absolute constant $k$ such that every graph is proper conflict-free (degree+$k$)-choosable, while the second strengthens this claim by restricting to connected graphs other than the cycle of length 5 and reducing the constant to $k=2$. In this paper, we confirm the second conjecture for three graph classes: $K_4$-minor-free graphs with maximum degree at most 4, outer-1-planar graphs with maximum degree at most 4, and planar graphs with girth at least 12; we also confirm the first conjecture for these same graph classes, in addition to all outer-1-planar graphs (without degree constraints). Moreover, we prove that planar graphs with girth at least 12 and outer-1-planar graphs are proper conflict-free $6$-choosable.