Online Coloring for Graphs of Large Odd Girth

Abstract

We study the problem of online coloring for graphs with large odd girth. The best previously known algorithm uses $O(n^{1/2})$ colors, which was discovered by Kierstead in 1998. This algorithm works when the odd girth is 7 or more. In this paper, we provide the following: for every $\varepsilon > 0$, there exists a constant $g' \in \{3, 5, 7, \dots\}$ such that graphs with odd girth at least $g'$ can be deterministically colored online using $O(n^{\varepsilon})$ colors.