A generalization of Grötzsch Theorem on the local-equitable coloring (Q2110276)

Let \(G\) be a graph. A clique that is not in a larger clique than itself is a maximum clique of \(G\). We call a maximum clique with \(m\) vertices as a maximal-\(m\)-clique. \textit{Z. Liang} et al. [Theor. Comput. Sci. 906, 76--82 (2022; Zbl 07477134)] introduced a new concept of coloring, say a local-equitable \(k\)-coloring. A local-equitable \(k\)-coloring (\(k\geq 2\)) of \(G\) is a vertex \(k\)-coloring (maybe not proper) of \(G\) such that, for every maximal clique \(K\) of \(G\), the sizes of any two color classes of \(K\) differ by at most one. We call \(G\) is local-equitable \(k\)-colorable (\(k\geq 2\)) if \(G\) has a local-equitable \(k\)-coloring. It follows that a proper \(k\)-coloring of \(G\) is a local-equitable \(k\)-coloring of \(G\). However, a local-equitable \(k\)-coloring of \(G\) is a proper \(k\)-coloring of \(G\) if \(k\geq \chi(G)\), or \(G\) is a \(K_4\)-free graph and \(k=3\). The famous Grötzsch theorem states that triangle-free planar graphs are 3-colorable. Additionally, a planar graph \(G\) is \(3\)-colorable (local-equitable \(3\)-colorable) if \(G\) does not contain a maximal-\(3\)-clique and a maximal-\(4\)-clique. In this paper, it is demonstrated that maximal-\(3\)-clique-free planar graphs are local-equitable \(3\)-colorable, which is inspired by Grötzsch's theorem.