\(4\)-colouring of generalized signed planar graphs (Q2194082)

Summary: Assume \(G\) is a graph and \(S\) is a set of permutations of positive integers. An \(S\)-signature of \(G\) is a pair \((D, \sigma)\), where \(D\) is an orientation of \(G\) and \(\sigma: E(D) \to S\) is a mapping which assigns to each arc \(e=(u,v)\) a permutation \(\sigma(e)\) in \(S\). We say \(G\) is \(S-k\)-colourable if for any \(S\)-signature \((D, \sigma)\) of \(G\), there is a mapping \(f: V(G) \to [k]\) such that for each arc \(e=(u,v)\) of \(G, \sigma(e)(f(u)) \ne f(v)\). The concept of \(S-k\)-colourable is a common generalization of many colouring concepts. \par This paper studies the problem as to which subsets \(S\) of \(S_4\), every planar graph is \(S-4\)-colourable. We call such a subset \(S\) of \(S_4\) a good subset. The four colour theorem is equivalent to saying that \(S=\{\mathrm{id}\}\) is good. It was proved by \textit{L. Jin}, \textit{T. Wong} and \textit{X. Zhu} [``Colouring of generalized signed planar graphs'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1811.08584}] that a subset \(S\) containing \(\mathrm{id}\) is good if and only if \(S=\{\mathrm{id}\}\). In this paper, we prove that, up to conjugation, every good subset of \(S_4\) not containing \(id\) is a subset of \(\{(12),(34),(12)(34)\}\).