Proper interval vertex colorings of graphs

In this paper, we explore proper vertex colorings of graphs with the additional constraint that the colors used on the closed neighborhood of every vertex form an integer interval; such colorings are called proper closed interval vertex colorings (PCIV colorings for short). As not every graph admits such a coloring, we are concerned with the problem of deciding which graphs admit PCIV colorings, describing several sufficient conditions (among them unique and 3-colorability, partial decomposability into two bipartite graphs, and density constraints) as well as some constructions of PCIV uncolorable graphs. We also present an algorithmic support for PCIV colorability based on a modification of the standard greedy algorithm for standard proper coloring.