Maximum value of conflict-free vertex-connection number of graphs

Abstract

A path in a vertex-colored graph is called conflict-free if there is a color used on exactly one of its vertices. A vertex-colored graph is said to be conflict-free vertex-connected if any two vertices of the graph are connected by a conflict-free path. The conflict-free vertex-connection number, denoted by [Formula: see text], is defined as the smallest number of colors required to make [Formula: see text] conflict-free vertex-connected. Li et al. [Conflict-free vertex-connections of graphs, preprint (2017), arXiv:1705.07270v1[math.CO]] conjectured that for a connected graph [Formula: see text] of order [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]. We confirm that the conjecture is true and poses two relevant conjectures.