An Algorithm for the Edge Coloring Problem

호의 색칠문제의 해법

Edge coloring problem is to find a minimum cardinality coloring of the edges of a graph so that any pair of edges incident to a common node do not have the same colors. Edge coloring problem is NP-hard, hence it is unlikely that there exists a polynomial time algorithm. We formulate the problem as a covering of the edges by matchings and find valid inequalities for the convex hull of feasible solutions. We show that adding the valid inequalities to the linear programming relaxation is enough to determine the minimum coloring number(chromatic index). We also propose a method to use the valid inequalities as cutting planes and do the branch and bound search implicitly. An example is given to show how the method works.