Flexibility of Planar Graphs -- Sharpening the Tools to Get Lists of Size Four

A graph where each vertex $v$ has a list $L(v)$ of available colors is $L$-colorable if there is a proper coloring such that the color of $v$ is in $L(v)$ for each $v$. A graph is $k$-choosable if every assignment $L$ of at least $k$ colors to each vertex guarantees an $L$-coloring. Given a list assignment $L$, an $L$-request for a vertex $v$ is a color $cin L(v)$. In this paper, we look at a variant of the widely studied class of precoloring extension problems from [Z. Dvov{r}ak, S. Norin, and L. Postle: List coloring with requests. J. Graph Theory 2019], wherein one must satisfy enough, as opposed to all, of the requested set of precolors. A graph $G$ is $varepsilon$-flexible for list size $k$ if for any $k$-list assignment $L$, and any set $S$ of $L$-requests, there is an $L$-coloring of $G$ satisfying an $varepsilon$-fraction of the requests in $S$. It is conjectured that planar graphs are $varepsilon$-flexible for list size $5$, yet it is proved only for list size $6$ and for certain subclasses of planar graphs. We give a stronger version of the main tool used in the proofs of the aforementioned results. By doing so, we improve upon a result by Masav{r}ik and show that planar graphs without $K_4^-$ are $varepsilon$-flexible for list size $5$. We also prove that planar graphs without $4$-cycles and $3$-cycle distance at least 2 are $varepsilon$-flexible for list size $4$. Finally, we introduce a new (slightly weaker) form of $varepsilon$-flexibility where each vertex has exactly one request. In that setting, we provide a stronger tool and we demonstrate its usefulness to further extend the class of graphs that are $varepsilon$-flexible for list size $5$.