Improved square coloring of planar graphs

Abstract

Square coloring is a variant of graph coloring where vertices within distance two must receive different colors. When considering planar graphs, the most famous conjecture (Wegner, 1977) states that $\frac32Δ+1$ colors are sufficient to square color every planar graph of maximum degree $Δ$. This conjecture has been proven asymptotically for graphs with large maximum degree. We consider here planar graphs with small maximum degree and show that $2Δ+7$ colors are sufficient, which improves the best known bounds when $6\leqslant Δ\leqslant 31$.