<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!DOCTYPE article  PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v3.0 20080202//EN" "http://dtd.nlm.nih.gov/publishing/3.0/journalpublishing3.dtd"><article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en" article-type="research article"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">OJDM</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title>Open Journal of Discrete Mathematics</journal-title></journal-title-group><issn pub-type="epub">2161-7635</issn><publisher><publisher-name>Scientific Research Publishing</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.4236/ojdm.2013.32019</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">OJDM-30552</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="heading"><subject>Articles</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="Discipline-v2"><subject>Physics&amp;Mathematics</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>
 
 
  Further Results on Acyclic Chromatic Number
 
</article-title></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>.</surname><given-names>Shanas Babu</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref><xref ref-type="corresp" rid="cor1"><sup>*</sup></xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>A.</surname><given-names>V. Chithra</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref></contrib></contrib-group><aff id="aff1"><addr-line>Department of Mathematics, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut, India</addr-line></aff><author-notes><corresp id="cor1">* E-mail:<email>babushanas@gmail.com(.SB)</email>;</corresp></author-notes><pub-date pub-type="epub"><day>24</day><month>04</month><year>2013</year></pub-date><volume>03</volume><issue>02</issue><fpage>97</fpage><lpage>100</lpage><history><date date-type="received"><day>November</day>	<month>17,</month>	<year>2012</year></date><date date-type="rev-recd"><day>March</day>	<month>15,</month>	<year>2013</year>	</date><date date-type="accepted"><day>April</day>	<month>20,</month>	<year>2013</year></date></history><permissions><copyright-statement>&#169; Copyright  2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. </copyright-statement><copyright-year>2014</copyright-year><license><license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</license-p></license></permissions><abstract><p>
 
 
   An acyclic coloring of a graph is a proper vertex coloring such that the union of any two color classes induces a disjoint collection of trees.The purpose of this paper is to derive exact values of acyclic chromatic number of some graphs. 
 
</p></abstract><kwd-group><kwd>Acyclic Coloring; Acyclic Chromatic Number; Central Graph; Middle Graph; Total Graph</kwd></kwd-group></article-meta></front><body><sec id="s1"><title>1. Introduction</title><p>Graph coloring is a branch of graph theory which deals with such partitioning problems. For example, suppose that we have world map and we would like to color the countries so that if two countries share a boundary line, then they need to get different colors. We can translate the map to graph by letting countries be represented by vertices and two vertices are made adjacent if and only if the corresponding countries share a boundary line. Then the problem of map coloring is equivalent to vertex coloring of the corresponding graph. Hence the original map coloring now reduces to vertex coloring of the associated graph.</p><p>Coloring of a graph is an assignment of colors to the elements like vertices or edges or faces (regions) of a graph. It is said to be a proper coloring, if no two adjacent elements are assigned the same color. The most common types of graph colorings are vertex coloring, edge coloring and face coloring.</p><p>A vertex coloring of a graph <img src="5-1200128\17d2ef24-679d-4ee0-a3ac-d744f2f1425c.jpg" /> is an assignment of colors to its vertices so that no two vertices have the same color. The chromatic number <img src="5-1200128\afe04e38-0eeb-423d-8606-7f00d1fd7d34.jpg" /> of a graph <img src="5-1200128\01874211-6c5c-4f09-ad46-0539aed9de24.jpg" /> is the minimum number of colors needed to label the vertices, so that adjacent vertices receive different colors.</p><p>A proper vertex coloring of a graph is acyclic if every cycle uses at least three colors [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.30552-ref1">1</xref>]. The acyclic chromatic number of <img src="5-1200128\f9338da7-1f86-4f9b-b431-3e2cef11b9d9.jpg" />denoted by <img src="5-1200128\fa9edc06-e70c-4948-903a-590ac6475ada.jpg" /> is the minimum colors required for its acyclic coloring.</p></sec><sec id="s2"><title>2. Acyclic Coloring of Central Graph of <img src="5-1200128\3cebcbe9-3047-476f-a697-e22ba698e982.jpg" /></title><sec id="s2_1"><title>2.1. Central Graph [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.30552-ref2">2</xref>]</title><p>Let <img src="5-1200128\d5a152c5-8aba-4a98-87bd-3c7ced459f3d.jpg" /> be a finite undirected graph with no loops and multiple edges. The central graph of a graph <img src="5-1200128\0c23b374-3003-4ddf-91bd-b4f99b6fbcbe.jpg" /><img src="5-1200128\5dea1925-472d-4c81-b018-b448e38240ab.jpg" /> is obtained by subdividing each edge of <img src="5-1200128\30ad2efa-23d1-4124-8309-c9b7f367c142.jpg" /> exactly once and joining all the non-adjacent vertices of <img src="5-1200128\c722b8f2-2371-46d0-b0ef-c0d9cd06396a.jpg" /></p></sec><sec id="s2_2"><title>2.2. Structural Properties of Central Graphs</title><p>Let <img src="5-1200128\1f68b99e-1800-443c-9de8-de513e4929b5.jpg" /> be any undirected simple graph, then by the definition of <img src="5-1200128\50501820-03f5-4d6a-bd36-92b4865a49ed.jpg" /> of a graph.</p><p>• The number of vertices in the central graph of <img src="5-1200128\816afa52-de79-4780-bdbf-29daea2c676f.jpg" /> is <img src="5-1200128\4741d37b-ed0f-46d8-bafb-c67a3971530e.jpg" /></p><p>• For any <img src="5-1200128\d67ef8b4-c3b7-4d1c-b008-9d59eb9e0e34.jpg" /> graph there exists&#160; exactly <img src="5-1200128\00f7d696-ebf2-48ed-b29b-8878f81d1215.jpg" /> vertices of degree <img src="5-1200128\29187cb2-af52-4399-92d2-52037e02d5c2.jpg" /> and <img src="5-1200128\d6a80efd-0aec-4af3-8328-8172a5e87f3d.jpg" /> vertices of degree <img src="5-1200128\a2c40d6b-52c8-494c-b665-9529cb17ff9b.jpg" /> in <img src="5-1200128\34fe5414-f4fb-4525-a6ff-95c32cf668db.jpg" /></p><p>• The central graph of two isomorphic graphs is also isomorphic.</p><p>• The maximum degree in <img src="5-1200128\6059b41b-e367-40a0-bae3-a592da8d37af.jpg" /> is <img src="5-1200128\1c0a3bad-c89a-472c-b4ca-4f0980472656.jpg" /></p><p>• Central graph of any graph is connected.</p><p>• If <img src="5-1200128\7a78f11a-8b74-45de-9740-11466e497790.jpg" /> is any graph with odd <img src="5-1200128\a19a6d50-0a5a-460c-a6f3-88c8a0acbeaf.jpg" />then <img src="5-1200128\bae9e2d2-17ce-42bf-b118-3744f81ba87e.jpg" /> is Eulerian.</p></sec><sec id="s2_3"><title>2.3. Theorem</title><p>The acyclic coloring of central graph of cycle, <img src="5-1200128\761a961f-2d1a-4934-b8ee-2a8599f10866.jpg" />for <img src="5-1200128\5d0fa1b7-0fe4-4e9e-b6b6-cd24fc9bcc4d.jpg" /></p><sec id="s2_3_1"><title>Proof</title><p>Consider the graph <img src="5-1200128\6f3ddc45-b78a-4049-b882-959a6c107425.jpg" /> with vertex set <img src="5-1200128\93c79076-4171-4e83-8bb8-458e49f3f9ff.jpg" /> Let <img src="5-1200128\42c8b30e-f2da-467a-ad15-2a4a27853a89.jpg" /> be the central graph of <img src="5-1200128\16ef0ac6-cbfc-4889-ab0f-c13ad33466e6.jpg" /> which is obtained by sub dividing each edge of <img src="5-1200128\1108e643-76ba-4631-9a91-5d77c2b37203.jpg" /> exactly once and joining non adjacent vertices of <img src="5-1200128\00aed040-d744-4af5-ac7d-c22e93d656d2.jpg" /> Let the newly introduced vertices be <img src="5-1200128\d1c585df-b588-45dc-b788-0e63ecf2c7cb.jpg" /> <img src="5-1200128\80ca2b1a-f7e0-4af2-a569-be2fdf73dba3.jpg" /> with <img src="5-1200128\9531be8e-82e0-42d3-bde3-a48b7aa21420.jpg" />Consider the color class <img src="5-1200128\61b2de31-a779-4763-b000-208fc1059a2f.jpg" /> Now assign a proper coloring to the vertices as follows. The coloring is in such a way that the sub graph induced by any two color is a forest containing at most the path <img src="5-1200128\45b974ea-8247-444f-a841-e047443ccf0f.jpg" /> The vertices <img src="5-1200128\27258785-b596-4e9f-8b3e-7031664f1040.jpg" /> are assigned the cololur <img src="5-1200128\fcf6c116-882e-4f63-95aa-dce9c0725d98.jpg" /> for <img src="5-1200128\ea9af4ea-2553-43f5-912f-4a26245541e7.jpg" /> <img src="5-1200128\6dc1548a-bf31-4cde-844b-59868f80d920.jpg" /> for <img src="5-1200128\9a47d4d0-630d-4a72-af40-c1b84ce0c210.jpg" /> <img src="5-1200128\2564fcca-6b52-43ea-ad2f-07c0f7565a2d.jpg" /> for <img src="5-1200128\f0aea417-e320-4658-8e4f-0c8d1fecd567.jpg" /></p><p>Case 1: When <img src="5-1200128\4d0eb01b-49c0-4586-8324-3459aa7bdc38.jpg" /></p><p>The newly <img src="5-1200128\75f6c826-fa66-4a3e-8f69-8c92145bf4e7.jpg" /> are assigned the colors <img src="5-1200128\51136683-09d3-4b21-92d6-14e13ff95e6c.jpg" />and <img src="5-1200128\3f6a1b29-1849-4ab9-924c-45162d5ce789.jpg" />respectively and all others are colored properly.</p><p>Case 2: When <img src="5-1200128\6d6d947c-f399-402d-8bc5-d83a1147aa80.jpg" /></p><p><img src="5-1200128\fe743ce1-3199-44ef-b33f-031c9f547017.jpg" />all others are assigned so that the coloring is proper. Now the coloring is obviously acyclic, by the very arrangement of the colors. It is also minimum, because if we replace any color by an already used color, it will become either improper or cyclic (Figures 1 and 2).</p></sec></sec><sec id="s2_4"><title>2.4. Note</title><p><img src="5-1200128\af980cf6-e027-4332-a41d-b4072c3986d5.jpg" />for <img src="5-1200128\0969ae00-0059-403f-9878-dfd6a9067fba.jpg" /></p></sec></sec><sec id="s3"><title>3. Acyclic Coloring of Line Graph of Central Graph of <img src="5-1200128\e36c2076-8b1f-4820-9d85-528d9ad6c450.jpg" /></title><sec id="s3_1"><title>3.1. Definition</title><p>Let <img src="5-1200128\1e040d37-5453-423d-8ac8-b7b76cc59627.jpg" /> be a finite undirected graph with no loops and multiple edges, the line graph of <img src="5-1200128\b4cc0ba4-89e5-425c-9e28-889ab6baa1e3.jpg" /> denoted by <img src="5-1200128\cf00acbc-e829-48e3-bd30-c8692b345184.jpg" /></p><p>is the intersection graph <img src="5-1200128\64dc5fc2-2ef2-42db-a85d-20188eaf218a.jpg" /> Thus the points of <img src="5-1200128\a7402afb-3d09-49d3-b954-0767d68fb3de.jpg" /> are the lines of <img src="5-1200128\212b8851-7039-4f00-95ac-24c6a9df2c73.jpg" /> with two points of <img src="5-1200128\12a66e12-946e-4ef6-afe2-1200ebc63fee.jpg" /> are adjacent whenever the corresponding lines of<img src="5-1200128\c492f3ee-3ef8-4722-ba7b-6b8ffa1caf4a.jpg" />are.</p></sec><sec id="s3_2"><title>3.2. Structural Properties of Line Graph of Central Graph of <img src="5-1200128\129c982e-a906-4274-8398-4c6a9ae80f67.jpg" /></title><p>• Number of vertices in <img src="5-1200128\1dfdef22-51f4-437e-87b7-5f69232e0651.jpg" /></p><p>• Maximum Degree of vertices = Minimum Degree of vertices <img src="5-1200128\fe3e073f-5888-47ce-8c24-bb70211d9f51.jpg" /></p><p>• <img src="5-1200128\71d75916-d53f-4b96-b48b-3131c07fd9db.jpg" />contains <img src="5-1200128\98f2293c-69af-4f41-9291-fb4985ce38e2.jpg" />copies of vertex disjoint <img src="5-1200128\b634ab28-cd51-48ed-b3d2-d6373c4de1fd.jpg" /></p><p>• There is a cycle <img src="5-1200128\cd30bf92-c1f2-4902-b625-c9107e23f4e9.jpg" />of length <img src="5-1200128\e398f926-f4ce-4541-aefe-2a2b7d9990a9.jpg" /> with alternate edges from each of the complete graph <img src="5-1200128\3b936472-bb8c-406e-9f8a-b34cabc4164e.jpg" /></p></sec><sec id="s3_3"><title>3.3. Theorem</title><p>For any complete graph <img src="5-1200128\ea54228d-3b77-4b11-adf7-f2e906cc8436.jpg" /><img src="5-1200128\ed5415d7-af32-46ab-ab6a-720da8549d0e.jpg" /></p><sec id="s3_3_1"><title>Proof:</title><p>Let <img src="5-1200128\4dced24c-cbcd-4397-ab73-95ecedce3b47.jpg" /> be the complete graph on <img src="5-1200128\6d89138f-f6e4-4785-9396-7dd243cb74de.jpg" />vertices. Consider its line graph of central graph <img src="5-1200128\2aca42d0-4122-4ef3-acf4-e62823dc6832.jpg" /> it contains <img src="5-1200128\6b3b730a-f1a9-41ad-9e25-96e60b022971.jpg" /> copies of vertex disjoint sub graphs <img src="5-1200128\ba458e03-ee54-472b-965d-4ee23ea832b6.jpg" /> <img src="5-1200128\f5ca4fb3-d339-46d7-8125-8dae63e2ab55.jpg" /> and which are marked in anti-clockwise direction. Let</p><p><img src="5-1200128\e6238801-10a0-4f70-afa0-c6bf5ef542c3.jpg" /></p><p>where <img src="5-1200128\ea5e49a8-f1ce-4e14-8ce2-e74cd222f88e.jpg" /> so that the total number of vertices in <img src="5-1200128\ad4157f3-f2c5-448b-853e-1b94944e51a4.jpg" /> is <img src="5-1200128\74ec3f47-c95a-470a-80a3-32a29b7f7a0e.jpg" /> Here there exist a unique bridge between each pair of sub graphs <img src="5-1200128\13a012b2-4a09-4642-bd95-86d175066d23.jpg" /> The bridge in the consecutive pairs of sub graph <img src="5-1200128\11d0a205-676c-4d18-aab8-7dbe25cfd573.jpg" /> is given by for <img src="5-1200128\56e89acf-2783-4a94-b33d-3b4b8f3793d7.jpg" /> it is <img src="5-1200128\27cdcdd5-9dc3-4841-9f96-ae6c330c9b32.jpg" /> and for <img src="5-1200128\bc83e922-6a6a-4fc6-a180-307a9253de15.jpg" /> it is <img src="5-1200128\1cb0d5bf-cc17-4b51-a4de-926fe23a40c5.jpg" /> <img src="5-1200128\872edd38-132e-4212-8068-259c35b581ac.jpg" /> only for <img src="5-1200128\81cb49cf-406d-420e-b19b-abce3be25a16.jpg" /> form a bridge in the sub graph <img src="5-1200128\b98c47bf-eaa8-4879-8443-4bf1c24391dd.jpg" />. In a similar manner bridges are formed in non consecutive pairs also. Consider the color class <img src="5-1200128\8ef3d2ad-cf83-4db0-880b-ade7f6c856a1.jpg" /> Assign the color <img src="5-1200128\731b2ea1-5210-4005-bf2c-aac4a995c805.jpg" /> to the vertex <img src="5-1200128\b1bc0ca6-f32c-4fd4-943f-a4f0fb92944f.jpg" /> for <img src="5-1200128\2cdcb6df-848b-45bb-bf25-ec4da2837c5a.jpg" /> Next we prove that the coloring is acyclic. That is the coloring does not induce a bi-chromatic cycle. Clearly for each complete sub graph <img src="5-1200128\1d58930f-fe27-4c3b-b1e9-970978db0ec4.jpg" /> the coloring is acyclic (it never induce a bi-chromatic cycle). Now exactly two pairs of sub graphs <img src="5-1200128\f40aa17e-85c5-4baf-85fe-99ae49682a84.jpg" /> <img src="5-1200128\2788205b-66a2-4c45-b748-58301d55c355.jpg" /> never allow to induce a bi-chromatic cycle for any pair <img src="5-1200128\0352a9fb-cdc3-4994-915f-b3589880e7ad.jpg" />as there is only a unique bridge between each pair of sub graphs <img src="5-1200128\081d0fb6-aad7-47a8-8c9a-f326d32ed45a.jpg" /> Note that bichromatic cycle is possible only for even cycles. The coloring is in such a way that more than three sub graphs <img src="5-1200128\98fd06e3-614f-4ecf-9ed0-a46e1474a443.jpg" />never allow to induce a bi-chromatic cycle for any pair <img src="5-1200128\8aeac22b-25dc-465e-a3cf-f2ca14acaa8f.jpg" />The maximum number of times a color will occur in any bi-chromatic path in this coloring is three. So the above said coloring acyclic. Also the coloring is minimum, as <img src="5-1200128\1d91a102-a89b-4c87-86f0-44ea881f0585.jpg" /> contains the subgraph<img src="5-1200128\0386c6d8-4ff3-461c-b18d-4eb382950864.jpg" />, minimum <img src="5-1200128\aac7a14a-b5ab-40d9-ac22-e22d0c1b9e67.jpg" /> colors are required for its proper coloring (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig3">Figure 3</xref>).</p></sec></sec></sec><sec id="s4"><title>4. Acyclic Coloring of Middle Graph of <img src="5-1200128\0cbbb378-258a-47b9-8820-b3eb95bc0918.jpg" /></title><sec id="s4_1"><title>4.1. Middle Graph [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.30552-ref3">3</xref>]</title><p>Let <img src="5-1200128\7b7a94f3-a5fc-4884-ba6f-92faa79e134b.jpg" /> be a graph with vertex set <img src="5-1200128\0023dbdc-2654-4128-a07f-0a9457c0d37e.jpg" /> and edge set <img src="5-1200128\be38c2c2-7f94-4862-89d1-1b879260c182.jpg" /> The middle graph of <img src="5-1200128\6c8830e1-d1ff-43d9-bb04-4adb1624b1dc.jpg" /> denoted by <img src="5-1200128\755c6fb0-c79f-4430-a6dc-bc9260b368ca.jpg" /> is defined as follows. The vertex set of <img src="5-1200128\b0de309f-a836-4f6c-9f1e-daa3729f5ad3.jpg" /> is <img src="5-1200128\cb9554c1-b0de-40eb-a8c0-3eb6452aff74.jpg" /> Two vertices <img src="5-1200128\e5d2b4c5-7f4b-46b2-9acb-b50be9f0e663.jpg" />in the vertex set of <img src="5-1200128\4050d6df-b276-4198-9dff-6d8028d757ae.jpg" /> are adjacent in <img src="5-1200128\2ef0b1f1-d9d7-456d-8dca-e6c2d95c4458.jpg" /> in case one of following holds:</p><p>1) <img src="5-1200128\c0add20c-2557-4607-94c1-ae5cbd1ef580.jpg" />are in <img src="5-1200128\32b8eb1f-454f-44a7-ab91-586b4558ed08.jpg" /> and <img src="5-1200128\5785201b-1304-4107-90f7-c964f984d0fd.jpg" />are adjacent in <img src="5-1200128\1845e8c1-9d4e-4f85-ade6-126a990874dd.jpg" /> 2) <img src="5-1200128\0ebc6620-10b2-4f95-a283-213bf15b13c7.jpg" />is in <img src="5-1200128\c028268e-1aee-4e90-9d7b-f06839ea7763.jpg" /> <img src="5-1200128\10fe2221-737a-4f73-9d40-5108e44e2d1f.jpg" /> is in <img src="5-1200128\30493288-0181-4c0e-89ad-c3e8c886f0d1.jpg" />and <img src="5-1200128\e2a63581-5258-46d9-8d61-f6b3af7bd7da.jpg" /> are incident in<img src="5-1200128\44e6ab0e-b523-469b-89fe-fc9a4d64dfbf.jpg" />.</p></sec><sec id="s4_2"><title>4.2. Theorem</title><p>The acyclic chromatic number of the middle graph of <img src="5-1200128\bdb8a409-ed86-451b-9ba9-55e6162d1d49.jpg" /> is <img src="5-1200128\c83f9a6c-dd38-49e7-90f0-d15b02cd1fc8.jpg" /> for <img src="5-1200128\854147df-2c04-46be-a4bc-313666c48f2e.jpg" /></p><sec id="s4_2_1"><title>Proof</title><p><img src="5-1200128\0b29ba86-aac1-4057-a4ca-028e68e29189.jpg" />and <img src="5-1200128\d4356868-bb82-4e52-afa8-b46733a31a05.jpg" /> in which <img src="5-1200128\ee641794-0eb7-4aeb-bc97-c586da380016.jpg" /> with <img src="5-1200128\e58dee59-29df-49d3-b98d-6f2a49c2e554.jpg" />Let <img src="5-1200128\8dafd734-86bd-4cbb-b9a0-001e954967dd.jpg" /> be the middle graph of the n-cycle. By the definition of middle graph</p><p><img src="5-1200128\d919e499-e873-4020-a94a-04ea329d18b3.jpg" /></p><p>and</p><p><img src="5-1200128\07a051db-b115-40c2-ab46-82a987cbad68.jpg" /></p><p>Then in the middle graph, there are <img src="5-1200128\6888528f-04fb-48e8-a0ca-ae823f3aaab6.jpg" />-vertices of degree <img src="5-1200128\5dc8b81a-cb51-4c4d-aa77-b0b34d05c77d.jpg" /> and another <img src="5-1200128\8760c88e-c2cc-407e-bfe3-e23a624268ff.jpg" />-vertices of degree 4. Let <img src="5-1200128\82504df9-0cd7-427f-8418-70b01b89c0f3.jpg" /> be the cycle of length <img src="5-1200128\e4ead031-ddae-4a97-8f95-3b083bf52939.jpg" /> in <img src="5-1200128\8b2f47ee-f007-448d-8fbb-e04c27d5c5ff.jpg" /> with degree of each vertex <img src="5-1200128\f7708693-c6ec-4d43-bed0-07b521ec7d5d.jpg" /> and <img src="5-1200128\4d54768f-bb65-41d8-8e8d-7fe8c7436e9a.jpg" /> be the cycle of length <img src="5-1200128\448df3e0-9a30-4c5c-b94c-03ca6d4a5b76.jpg" /> in <img src="5-1200128\3efae617-c969-46cd-a4ea-cfdd10bf2dcd.jpg" /> with degree of vertices alternately <img src="5-1200128\adb8a443-0aec-46a7-91e1-4ba00a25ebfc.jpg" /> and 4. The cycle <img src="5-1200128\a0944d2c-fc75-4071-a5ab-dd4ee19a9301.jpg" /> are assigned the colors <img src="5-1200128\4949c50e-3910-4161-bf5b-a4d9e205b6af.jpg" /> and <img src="5-1200128\c8b97483-7e91-451c-bce9-6016c4ccee3a.jpg" /> alternately with last vertex preceding to <img src="5-1200128\4c678507-c8e7-4d21-9db0-faf37a9452f0.jpg" /> by <img src="5-1200128\1752d8ed-8ec6-4e5b-999d-16a5e956001d.jpg" />All other vertices except vertices adjacent to <img src="5-1200128\c7d50418-9e4c-42db-b45d-05cfbd787c7f.jpg" /> (which are colored as<img src="5-1200128\23012e0b-5547-4d7f-ac3f-2e54c3c68ddf.jpg" />) are colored as <img src="5-1200128\e3bdec9a-3308-44a4-a8ce-4f789244b994.jpg" /> The coloring is minimum, as for any cycle minimum <img src="5-1200128\89662b45-e60c-409d-9d25-7f02b49b55ad.jpg" />colors needed for its acyclic coloring. The coloring is acyclic (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig4">Figure 4</xref>).</p></sec></sec></sec><sec id="s5"><title>5. Acyclic Coloring of Total Graph of <img src="5-1200128\9b9fbbd4-cf22-4b28-a81d-b731e06e206b.jpg" /></title><sec id="s5_1"><title>5.1. Total Graph [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.30552-ref3">3</xref>]</title><p>Let <img src="5-1200128\1cf64622-f6e7-4b24-87bf-62268383a3cb.jpg" /> be a graph with vertex set <img src="5-1200128\c565c70a-2ba0-4ceb-b048-65dc55278a5d.jpg" /> and edge set <img src="5-1200128\e1e0e013-2e24-44a7-aeca-2cdaa0a36208.jpg" /> The total graph of <img src="5-1200128\626a6254-bcc8-4e31-9a64-d8541ce362d9.jpg" /> denoted by <img src="5-1200128\c77240ed-88c5-4bff-913f-8d49567356cf.jpg" /> is defined as follows. The vertex set of <img src="5-1200128\0ec0ed02-38d9-4c36-980d-12f3b1cdf0d8.jpg" /> is <img src="5-1200128\07b663c6-80e7-4ada-9f21-a28b07d036ec.jpg" /> Two vertices<img src="5-1200128\c2cd4b9c-d4d6-40c3-9862-7d9ec42e5e74.jpg" /> in the vertex set of <img src="5-1200128\a9dc9898-4482-4313-a01b-e861f9613ae5.jpg" /> are adjacent in <img src="5-1200128\510b0366-0eca-43c2-8aae-2e41036afba6.jpg" /> in case one of the following holds:</p><p>1) <img src="5-1200128\ce71ff72-c071-40a0-a669-f521794cee8a.jpg" />are in <img src="5-1200128\081d1740-a140-4673-bdc2-3b56855905aa.jpg" /> and <img src="5-1200128\c04945f7-d429-4616-871f-7f9a5476ade5.jpg" /> is adjacent to <img src="5-1200128\e081e70b-5407-4c8a-8062-77263c0cc677.jpg" /> in <img src="5-1200128\c7ced5ce-5ffb-42d7-b5c9-d26d44bfe6d3.jpg" /> 2) <img src="5-1200128\95dbd90b-dd0c-4fca-9855-def172949f43.jpg" />are in <img src="5-1200128\59c21afe-3a56-4a15-b76a-df1d45256923.jpg" /> and <img src="5-1200128\249c6087-6049-4f8b-8329-8e8cbcb17036.jpg" /> are adjacent in <img src="5-1200128\da0b038e-4fab-4128-80d8-b2fa4cb55667.jpg" /> 3) <img src="5-1200128\54d46f67-79c8-4f6c-bd86-48bbdfae1151.jpg" />is in <img src="5-1200128\28335b10-beab-4fb9-8ce1-d75c50a2caa5.jpg" /> <img src="5-1200128\2b4e1595-031d-4219-b24c-3a89d06e676b.jpg" /> is in <img src="5-1200128\2044caf1-c5e8-4ce8-8b97-c9ba0fe1760e.jpg" /> and <img src="5-1200128\144ac9a8-a49f-4162-848f-558eef1c20f8.jpg" /> are incident in<img src="5-1200128\2fbb73d0-95c1-480c-bf4f-76903f5262c3.jpg" />.</p>• 5.2. Some Structural Properties of Total Graph of <img src="5-1200128\10b7d944-fb15-4161-9aa1-697b613fa6c0.jpg" /><p>• Every cycle has a<img src="5-1200128\63ea7670-af6d-4ac0-b7b8-4f77f2c5e4ed.jpg" />-regular total graph.</p><p>• The number of vertices in the total graph of <img src="5-1200128\61e56703-f5f0-4b94-ae6c-e0b34db8829e.jpg" /> is 2 times the number of vertices in the cycle <img src="5-1200128\bd95d52a-d99d-4f18-b9f4-8d2bb1873428.jpg" /></p><p>• The number of edges in the total graph of <img src="5-1200128\babc7bb2-1c94-4454-8193-751b734de830.jpg" /> is 4 times the number of edges in the cycle <img src="5-1200128\3312e167-784c-4496-a504-26ea281a4c97.jpg" /></p><p>• The total graph of <img src="5-1200128\6e3e2c1c-dba9-4eca-9cbe-ed6e33f7580c.jpg" /> is Eulerian.</p><p>• The total graph of <img src="5-1200128\80c40eb6-2f2e-4e7d-af94-49b0135b6c08.jpg" /> is Hamiltonian.</p></sec><sec id="s5_2"><title>5.3. Theorem</title><p>The acyclic chromatic number of the total graph of <img src="5-1200128\f45c5fd9-9e15-4e1e-a5cf-bfc2744af487.jpg" /> is <img src="5-1200128\cec7e8bd-fcbe-4c2c-992d-882ad511a59c.jpg" /> for <img src="5-1200128\38bc4bd6-20c1-4315-adea-0b98034516bd.jpg" /></p><sec id="s5_2_1"><title>Proof</title><p>Let <img src="5-1200128\138b86b1-3f4c-421b-bc35-c9db81bf591a.jpg" /> and <img src="5-1200128\32b1a0f9-70fb-4020-ad14-7f6f6bcb1155.jpg" /> in which <img src="5-1200128\69af3843-46c2-45ed-8b58-ebab6c494d1c.jpg" /> with <img src="5-1200128\97233030-1e81-4394-bc5c-e3b55cf02541.jpg" /> Let <img src="5-1200128\eb3059e4-f62b-40ff-9b99-8ec9d2bc4c76.jpg" /> be the total graph of the n-cycle. By the definition of total graph <img src="5-1200128\73e3f2c0-bdfe-43ac-9d02-7d6824f4179d.jpg" /> and</p><p>By Menger’s theorem as, there are four pair wise vertex-independent paths between any two non adjacent vertices, the total graph of <img src="5-1200128\feb29717-d7d8-49e8-a1a9-544c3e8d3de3.jpg" /> is <img src="5-1200128\bf8a5062-84c2-4eef-b599-acbb386fb1aa.jpg" />-connected. To prove that <img src="5-1200128\ccbc5cbc-22eb-4944-8a5a-1a329eb1add5.jpg" /> if possible consider the color class <img src="5-1200128\3fe8d263-1e4f-4c96-b9c4-f107e44f19cf.jpg" /> with <img src="5-1200128\6590d2e2-41aa-4016-a32a-a910e68b3c91.jpg" /> such that the coloring is acyclic. Then there exist no pair <img src="5-1200128\bc312ece-c831-475e-990e-82c9c63959dd.jpg" /> such that they induce a bi-chromatic cycle. i.e., there exist a three vertex cut in <img src="5-1200128\1eced1d8-7881-4cf9-ba50-c5fd9fc64648.jpg" /> This is a contradiction to the fact that <img src="5-1200128\a183a516-517d-4624-bb73-8f0cb3288e70.jpg" /> is <img src="5-1200128\ed184cd8-8252-45ef-90f0-bc9fd561e5ee.jpg" />-connected. Also acyclic chromatic number is can’t be 5, as in this case we can replace a color by an already used color.</p><p>Therefore <img src="5-1200128\a6d539d1-a37d-417e-b0f8-feb87cc9ae52.jpg" /> for <img src="5-1200128\6a64fd54-58fb-46ac-89c5-fe3f794e35e6.jpg" />(<xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig5">Figure 5</xref>).</p></sec></sec><sec id="s5_3"><title>5.4. Note</title><p><img src="5-1200128\c782bb67-4fd7-4a77-9283-ac51ee0f87a2.jpg" /></p></sec></sec><sec id="s6"><title>6. Acknowledgements</title><p>The authors are thankful to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and constructive suggestions.</p></sec><sec id="s7"><title>REFERENCES</title></sec><sec id="s8"><title>NOTES</title></sec></body><back><ref-list><title>References</title><ref id="scirp.30552-ref1"><label>1</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">B. Grünbaum, “Acyclic Colorings of Planar Graphs,” Israel Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 14, No. 3, 1973, pp. 390-408. doi:10.1007/BF02764716</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.30552-ref2"><label>2</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">P. S. Babu and A. V. Chithra, “Acyclic Colouring of Line Graph of Some Families”,Proceedings of National Conference on Mathematics of Soft Computing (NCMSC 2012), 5-7 July, 2012, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut, Kerala, India, pp. 144-147.</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.30552-ref3"><label>3</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">D. Michalak, “On Middle and Total Graphs with Coarseness Number Equal 1,” Lecture Notes in Mathematics, Vol. 1018, 1983, pp. 139-150.</mixed-citation></ref></ref-list></back></article>