List-recoloring of sparse graphs (Q2145762)

For a list-assignment \(L\) for a graph \(G\), and \(L\)-colorings \(\alpha\) and \(\beta\), an \(L\)-recoloring sequence, starting from \(\alpha\), recolors a single vertex at each step, so that each resulting intermediate coloring is a proper \(L\)-coloring. In this paper, the author proves that there exists an \(L\)-recoloring sequence that transforms \(\alpha\) to \(\beta\) and recolors each vertex at most a constant number of times if (i) \(G\) is triangle-free and planar and \(L\) is a 7-assignment (at most 30 times), or (ii) mad(\(G\)) < 17/5 and \(L\) is a 6-assignment (at most 12 times) or (iii) mad(G) < 22/9 and \(L\) is a 4-assignment (at most 14 times), where mad denotes maximum average degree. Parts (i) and (ii) confirm conjectures of \textit{Z. Dvořák} and \textit{C. Feghali} [Electron. J. Comb. 27, No. 4, Research Paper P4.51, 21 p. (2020; Zbl 1457.05033)].