Linear Lower Bounds for the Modular Chromatic Index

Let $k\geq2$ be an integer. A $1\bmod k$ edge-coloring of a graph $G$ is an edge-coloring in which every nonzero degree in each color class is congruent to $1$ modulo $k$. Let $\chi'_k(G)$ denote the minimum number of colors required, and let $\chi'_k$ be the supremum of $\chi'_k(G)$ over all finite simple graphs $G$. Botler, Colucci, and Kohayakawa conjectured that there exists an absolute constant $C$ such that $\chi'_k(G)\leq k+C$ for every $k$ and every $G$. We disprove this conjecture, even within the class of bipartite graphs. More precisely, for all integers $c\geq0$ and $k\geq3c+2$, we construct a finite simple bipartite graph $G_{k,c}$ satisfying $\chi'_k(G_{k,c})=k+c+1$. Consequently, $\chi'_k\geq k+\lfloor(k+1)/3\rfloor$ for every $k\geq2$. For $k_m=2\cdot3^{m-1}$, we give an affine-hyperplane construction of a finite simple bipartite graph $G_m$ satisfying $\Delta(G_m)=\chi'_{k_m}(G_m)=3^m=3k_m/2$. More generally, for every sufficiently large $k$, we construct a finite simple bipartite graph $G_k$ such that $\Delta(G_k)=\chi'_k(G_k)\geq3k/2-10(k\log k)^{1/3}$. Our proofs combine a codegree obstruction with explicit cyclic and affine-geometric constructions and a structured random perturbation.