Dense graphs are antimagic

Abstract

An {\em antimagic labeling} of a graph with $m$ edges and $n$ vertices is a bijection from the set of edges to the integers $1,...,m$ such that all $n$ vertex sums are pairwise distinct, where a vertex sum is the sum of labels of all edges incident with the same vertex. A graph is called {\em antimagic} if it has an antimagic labeling. A conjecture of Ringel (see \cite{HaRi}) states that every connected graph, but $K_2$, is antimagic. Our main result validates this conjecture for graphs having minimum degree $Ω(\log n)$. The proof combines probabilistic arguments with simple tools from analytic number theory and combinatorial techniques. We also prove that complete partite graphs (but $K_2$) and graphs with maximum degree at least $n-2$ are antimagic.