Coloring picture fuzzy graphs through their cuts and its computation

Abstract

In a fuzzy set (FS), there is a concept of alpha-cuts of the FS for alpha in [0,1]. Further, this concept was extended into (alpha,delta)-cuts in an intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS) for delta in [0,1]. One of the expansions of FS and IFS is the picture fuzzy set (PFS). Hence, the concept of (alpha,delta)-cuts was developed into (alpha,delta,beta)-cuts in a PFS where beta is an element of [0,1]. Since a picture fuzzy graph (PFG) consists of picture fuzzy vertex or edge sets or both of them, we have an idea to construct the notion of the (alpha,delta,beta)-cuts in a PFG. The steps used in this paper are developing theories and algorithms. The objectives in this research are to construct the concept of (alpha,delta,beta)-cuts in picture fuzzy graphs (PFGs), to construct the (alpha,delta,beta)-cuts coloring of PFGs, and to design an algorithm for finding the cut chromatic numbers of PFGs. The first result is a definition of the (alpha,delta,beta)-cut in picture fuzzy graphs (PFGs) where (alpha,delta,beta) are elements of a level set of the PFGs. Further, some properties of the cuts are proved. The second result is a concept of PFG coloring and the chromatic number of PFG based on the cuts. The third result is an algorithm to find the cuts and the chromatic numbers of PFGs. Finally, an evaluation of the algorithm is done through Matlab programming. This research could be used to solve some problems related to theories and applications of PFGs.