The interval coloring impropriety of planar graphs

Abstract

For a graph $G$, we call an edge coloring of $G$ an \textit{improper} \textit{interval edge coloring} if for every $v\in V(G)$ the colors, which are integers, of the edges incident with $v$ form an integral interval. The \textit{interval coloring impropriety} of $G$, denoted by $μ_{int}(G)$, is the smallest value $k$ such that $G$ has an improper interval edge coloring where at most $k$ edges of $G$ with a common endpoint have the same color. The purpose of this note is to communicate solutions to two previous questions on interval coloring impropriety, mainly regarding planar graphs. First, we prove $μ_{int}(G) \leq 2$ for every outerplanar graph $G$. This confirms the conjecture by Casselgren and Petrosyan in the affirmative. Secondly, we prove that for each $k\geq 2$, the interval coloring impropriety of $k$-trees is unbounded. This refutes the conjecture by Carr, Cho, Crawford, Iršič, Pai and Robinson.