A Study of Tabu Search for Coloring Random 3-Colorable Graphs Around the Phase Transition

We present an experimental investigation of tabu search (TS) to solve the 3-coloring problem (3-COL). Computational results reveal that a basic TS algorithm is able to find proper 3-colorings for random 3-colorable graphs with up to 11 000 vertices and beyond when instances follow the uniform or equipartite well-known models, and up to 1 500 vertices for the hardest class of flat graphs. This study also validates and reinforces some existing phase transition thresholds for 3-COL. Keywords 3-coloring

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: IJAMCIGI
• Authors: Jean-Philippe Hamiez, Jin-Kao Hao, Fred W. Glover
• Keywords: IJAMCIGI 2010, Phase Transitions, Random 3-colorable Graphs, Tabu Search