2-distance vertex-distinguishing index of subcubic graphs (Q724740)

A \(2\)-distance vertex-distinguishing edge coloring of a graph \(G\) is a proper edge coloring of \(G\) such that any pair of vertices at distance \(2\) have distinct set of colors. The \(2\)-distance vertex-distinguishing index \(\chi_{d2}\prime(G)\) of \(G\) is the minimum number of colors needed for a \(2\)-distance vertex-distinguishing edge coloring of \(G\). In this paper, the authors prove that if \(G\) is a subcubic graph, then \(\chi_{d2}\prime(G)\leq 6\). The authors also put forward a conjecture as follows: For a subcubic graph \(G\), \(\chi_{d2}\prime(G)\leq 5\).