Choice Numbers of Graphs: A Probabilistic Approach

The choice number of a graph G is the minimum integer k such that for every assignment of a set S(v) of k colors to every vertex v of G, there is a proper coloring of G that assigns to each vertex v a color from S(v). By applying probabilistic methods, it is shown that there are two positive constants c₁ and c₂ such that for all m ≥ 2 and r ≥ 2 the choice number of the complete r-partite graph with m vertices in each vertex class is between c₁r log m and c₂r log m. This supplies the solutions of two problems of Erdős, Rubin and Taylor, as it implies that the choice number of almost all the graphs on n vertices is o(n) and that there is an n vertex graph G such that the sum of the choice number of G with that of its complement is at most O(n^1/2(log n)^1/2).