2-distance vertex-distinguishing total coloring of graphs

Abstract

A [Formula: see text]-distance vertex-distinguishing total coloring of a graph [Formula: see text] is a proper total coloring of [Formula: see text] such that any pair of vertices at distance [Formula: see text] have distinct sets of colors. The [Formula: see text]-distance vertex-distinguishing total chromatic number [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] is the minimum number of colors needed for a [Formula: see text]-distance vertex-distinguishing total coloring of [Formula: see text]. In this paper, we determine the [Formula: see text]-distance vertex-distinguishing total chromatic number of some graphs such as paths, cycles, wheels, trees, unicycle graphs, [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text]. We conjecture that every simple graph [Formula: see text] with maximum degree [Formula: see text] satisfies [Formula: see text].