Date of Degree

2007

Document Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD (Doctor of Philosophy)

Department

Computer Science

First Advisor

Sriram Pemmaraju

Abstract

A classical problem in combinatorics and combinatorial optimization is the graph coloring problem, which asks for the smallest number of colors required to

color the vertices of a graph so that adjacent vertices receive distinct colors.

Graph coloring arises in several applications of scheduling and resource allocation. However, problems arising in these applications are more general than

classical coloring. In this thesis, we present several approximation algorithms

and complexity results for such generalized coloring problems.

In this thesis, we deal with the class of perfect graphs and sub-classes

of perfect graphs on which

the classical coloring problem can be solved in polynomial time. However,

the coloring problems we consider are NP-hard even on very restricted sub-classes of perfect graphs. The contributions of this thesis are :

1. The first constant factor approximation algorithms and complexity

results for the max-coloring problem on bipartite graphs, interval

graphs and an any hereditary class of graphs.

2. An improved analysis of the well studied first-fit coloring

algorithm for interval graphs.

3. An experimental evaluation of new heuristics for the max-coloring and

interval coloring problem on chordal graphs.

Pages

x, 147

Bibliography

142-147

Copyright

Copyright 2007 Rajiv Raman



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