The chromatic index of a graph whose core has maximum degree 2 (Q426833)

Summary: Let \(G\) be a graph. The core of \(G\), denoted by \(G_{\Delta}\), is the subgraph of \(G\) induced by the vertices of degree \(\Delta(G)\), where \(\Delta(G)\) denotes the maximum degree of \(G\). A \(k\)-edge coloring of \(G\) is a function \(f:E(G)\rightarrow L\) such that \(|L| = k\) and \(f(e_1)\neq f(e_2)\) for all two adjacent edges \(e_1\) and \(e_2\) of \(G\). The chromatic index of \(G\), denoted by \(\chi'(G)\), is the minimum number \(k\) for which \(G\) has a \(k\)-edge coloring. A graph \(G\) is said to be Class 1 if \(\chi'(G) = \Delta(G)\) and Class 2 if \(\chi'(G) = \Delta(G) + 1\). In this paper it is shown that every connected graph \(G\) of even order and with \(\Delta(G_{\Delta})\leq 2\) is Class 1 if \(|G_{\Delta}|\leq 9\) or \(G_{\Delta}\) is a cycle of order \(10\).