  We provide an optimally mixing Markov chain for 6-colorings of the square
lattice on rectangular regions with free, fixed, or toroidal boundary
conditions. This implies that the uniform distribution on the set of such
colorings has strong spatial mixing, so that the 6-state Potts antiferromagnet
has a finite correlation length and a unique Gibbs measure at zero temperature.
Four and five are now the only remaining values of q for which it is not known
whether there exists a rapidly mixing Markov chain for q-colorings of the
square lattice.
