DIMACS TR: 95-01

Analysis of Approximate Algorithms for Constrained and Unconstrained Edge-Coloring of Bipartite Graphs



Authors: Ravi Jain, John Werth

ABSTRACT

The problem of edge-coloring a bipartite graph is to color the edges so that adjacent edges receive different colors. An optimal algorithm uses the minimum number of colors to color the edges. We consider several approximation algorithms for edge-coloring bipartite graphs and show tight bounds on the number of colors they use in the worst case. We also briefly consider the constrained edge-coloring problem where each color may be used to color at most $k$ edges, and obtain bounds on the number of colors used by the approximation algorithms in the worst case.

Paper available at: ftp://dimacs.rutgers.edu/pub/dimacs/TechnicalReports/TechReports/1995/95-01.ps.gz
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