Let G be a simple 4-regular plane graph and let S be a decomposition of G into edge-disjoint cycles. Suppose that every two adjacent edges on a face belong to different cycles of S. Such a graph G arises as a superposition of simple closed curves in the plane with tangencies disallowed. Studies of coloring of graphs of this kind were originated by Grötzsch. Two 4-chromatic graphs generated by circles in the plane were constructed by Koester in 1984 [10,11,12]. Until now, no other examples of such graphs were known. We present fourteen new 4-chromatic graphs generated by circles in the plane.
In 1960, Dirac put forward the conjecture that r-connected 4-critical graphs exist for every r ≥ 3. In 1989, Erdös conjectured that for every r ≥ 3 there exist r-regular 4-critical graphs. A method for finding r-regular 4-critical graphs and the numbers of such graphs for r ≤ 10 have been reported in [6,7]. Results of a computer search for graphs of degree r = 12,14,16 are presented. All the graphs found are both r-regular and r-connected.
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