Totally frustrated states in the chromatic theory of gain graphs (Q2519802)

In this paper, the author generalizes the concept of graph colorings in the following sense: A \textit{gain graph} is an oriented graph, where to each edge \(e\) there is assigned an element \(\phi(e)\) of some group, called the \textit{gain group}, which acts upon some set \(Q\) of ``qualities'' (one may think: colours). A \textit{state} of the gain graph is a mapping \(s\) of the graph's vertices to \(Q\). A state is called \textit{totally frustrated} if for each edge \(e=(u,v)\) there holds \(s(u)\neq\phi(e)\cdot s(v)\). Clearly, totally frustrated states are a generalization of proper graph colourings. The author considers the \textit{state chromatic function} (i.e., the number of totally frustrated states; a generalization of the chromatic polynomial), shows that it satisfies a deletion--contraction law (analogous to the chromatic polynomial) and gives an abstract partition function which is a common generalization of the state chromatic function, the dichromatic polynomial and the Whitney--number polynomial.