Given a graph G and an initial colouring of its vertices with two colours, say black and white, an irreversible k-threshold conversion process on G is an iterative process in which a white vertex becomes permanently coloured black at time t if at least k of its neighbours are coloured black at time t-1. A set S of vertices is an irreversible k-threshold conversion set (k-conversion set) of G if the initial colouring in which the vertices of S are black and the others are white results in the whole vertex set becoming black eventually. In the case where G is (k+1)-regular, it can be shown that the k-conversion sets coincide with the so-called feedback vertex sets, or decycling sets. In this dissertation we study the size and structure of minimum k-conversion sets in several classes of graphs. We examine conditions that lead to equality and inequality in existing bounds on the minimum size of a k-conversion set of G, for k- and (k+1)-regular graphs G. Furthermore, we derive new sharp lower bounds on this number for regular graphs of degree ranging from k+1 to 2k-1 and for graphs of maximum degree k+1. We determine exact values of the minimum size of a k-conversion set for certain classes of trees. We show that every (k+1)-regular graph has a minimum k-conversion set that avoids certain structures in its induced subgraph. These results lead to new proofs of several known results on colourings and forest partitions of (k+1)-regular graphs and graphs of maximum degree k+1. / Graduate

Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons à differentes colorations des sommets d’un graphe et aux homomorphismes de graphes. Nous nous intéressons plus spécialement aux graphes planaires et aux graphes peu denses. Nous considérons la coloration propre des sommets, la coloration acyclique, la coloration étoilée, lak-forêt-coloration, la coloration fractionnaire et la version par liste de la plupart de ces concepts.Dans le Chapitre 2, nous cherchons des conditions suffisantes de 3-liste colorabilité des graphes planaires. Ces conditions sont exprimées en termes de sous-graphes interdits et nos résultats impliquent plusieurs résultats connus.La notion de la coloration acyclique par liste des graphes planaires a été introduite par Borodin, Fon-Der Flaass, Kostochka, Raspaud, et Sopena. Ils ont conjecturé que tout graphe planaire est acycliquement 5-liste coloriable. Dans le Chapitre 3, on obtient des conditions suffisantes pour qu’un graphe planaire admette une k-coloration acyclique par liste avec k 2 f3; 4; 5g.Dans le Chapitre 4, nous montrons que tout graphe subcubique est 6-étoilé coloriable.D’autre part, Fertin, Raspaud et Reed ont montré que le graphe de Wagner ne peut pas être 5-étoilé-coloriable. Ce fait implique que notre résultat est optimal. De plus, nous obtenons des nouvelles bornes supérieures sur la choisissabilité étoilé d’un graphe planaire subcubique de maille donnée.Une k-forêt-coloration d’un graphe G est une application ¼ de l’ensemble des sommets V (G) de G dans l’ensemble de couleurs 1; 2; ¢ ¢ ¢ ; k telle que chaque classede couleur induit une forêt. Le sommet-arboricité de G est le plus petit entier ktel que G a k-forêt-coloration. Dans le Chapitre 5, nous prouvons une conjecture de Raspaud et Wang affirmant que tout graphe planaire sans triangles intersectants admet une sommet-arboricité au plus 2.Enfin, au Chapitre 6, nous nous concentrons sur le problème d’homomorphisme des graphes peu denses dans le graphe de Petersen. Plus précisément, nous prouvons que tout graphe sans triangles ayant un degré moyen maximum moins de 5=2 admet un homomorphisme dans le graphe de Petersen. En outre, nous montrons que la borne sur le degré moyen maximum est la meilleure possible. / In this thesis, we are interested in various vertex coloring and homomorphism problems of graphs with special emphasis on planar graphs and sparsegraphs. We consider proper vertex coloring, acyclic coloring, star coloring, forestcoloring, fractional coloring and the list version of most of these concepts.In Chapter 2, we consider the problem of finding sufficient conditions for a planargraph to be 3-choosable. These conditions are expressed in terms of forbiddensubgraphs and our results extend several known results.The notion of acyclic list coloring of planar graphs was introduced by Borodin,Fon-Der Flaass, Kostochka, Raspaud, and Sopena. They conjectured that everyplanar graph is acyclically 5-choosable. In Chapter 3, we obtain some sufficientconditions for planar graphs to be acyclically k-choosable with k 2 f3; 4; 5g.In Chapter 4, we prove that every subcubic graph is 6-star-colorable. On theother hand, Fertin, Raspaud and Reed showed that the Wagner graph cannot be5-star-colorable. This fact implies that our result is best possible. Moreover, weobtain new upper bounds on star choosability of planar subcubic graphs with givengirth.A k-forest-coloring of a graph G is a mapping ¼ from V (G) to the set f1; ¢ ¢ ¢ ; kgsuch that each color class induces a forest. The vertex-arboricity of G is the smallestinteger k such that G has a k-forest-coloring. In Chapter 5, we prove a conjecture ofRaspaud and Wang asserting that every planar graph without intersecting triangleshas vertex-arboricity at most 2.Finally, in Chapter 6, we focus on the homomorphism problems of sparse graphsto the Petersen graph. More precisely, we prove that every triangle-free graph withmaximum average degree less than 5=2 admits a homomorphism to the Petersengraph. Moreover, we show that the bound on the maximum average degree in ourresult is best possible.