Further progress towards Hadwiger's conjecture

Abstract: In 1943, Hadwiger conjectured that every graph with no $K_t$ minor is $(t-1)$-colorable for every $t\ge 1$. In the 1980s, Kostochka and Thomason independently proved that every graph with no $K_t$ minor has average degree $O(t\sqrt{\log t})$ and hence is $O(t\sqrt{\log t})$-colorable.  Recently, Norin, Song and I showed that every graph with no $K_t$ minor is $O(t(\log t)^{\beta})$-colorable for every $\beta > 1/4$, making the first improvement on the order of magnitude of the $O(t\sqrt{\log t})$ bound. Here we show that every graph with no $K_t$ minor is $O(t (\log t)^{\beta})$-colorable for every $\beta > 0$; more specifically, they are $O(t (\log \log t)^{6})$-colorable.

combinatorics

Audience: researchers in the topic

Comments: pw 121323

SCMS Combinatorics Seminar

Series comments: Check scmscomb.github.io/ for more information