On complete subgraphs of color-critical graphs (Q1897440)

A graph \(G\) is called \(k\)-critical if \(\chi(G)= k\) and \(\chi(G- e)= k- 1\) for each edge \(e\) of \(G\), where \(\chi\) denotes the chromatic number. The author proves for \(4\leq k\leq 6\) that any \(k\)-critical graph \(G\) of order greater than \(k\) has an edge that is contained in at most one complete \((k-1)\)-subgraph of \(G\). From this it follows that the number of complete \((k- 1)\)-subgraphs of any \(k\)-critical graph \(G\) of order \(n> k\) is at most \(n- k+ 3\) for \(4\leq k\leq 6\).