The total chromatic number of pseudo-Halin graphs with lower degree (Q1011742)

Let \(G\) be a finite simple undirected graph with vertex set \(V(G)\) and edge set \(E(G)\). A total coloring of \(G\) is a mapping from \(V(G)\cup E(G)\) into set \(C\) of colors such that no incident elements of \(V(G)\cup E(G)\) are assigned the same color. The total chromatic number \(\chi_T(G)\) is the least cardinality of \(C\) for which there is a total colouring of \(G\). By definition, it is clear that \(\chi_T(G)\geq\Delta(G)+ 1\). The total coloring conjecture states that \(\chi_T(G)\leq\Delta(G)+ 2\) holds for every simple graph \(G\). It is known that \(\chi_T(G)= \Delta(G)+ 1\) for pseudo-Halin graphs with \(\Delta(G)\geq 6\). The authors show \(\chi_T(G)= \Delta(G)+ 1\) for pseudo-Halin graphs with \(\Delta(G)\in\{4,5\}\).