English

On two conjectures of Ho\`ang

Combinatorics 2026-05-12 v1

Abstract

A graph GG is said to be perfectly divisible if for every induced subgraph HH of GG with at least one edge, the vertex set V(H)V(H) can be partitioned into two sets A,BA, B such that H[A]H[A] is perfect and ω(B)<ω(H)\omega(B) < \omega(H). It is easy to see that the chromatic number of a perfectly divisible graph is at most (ω(G)+12)\binom{\omega(G)+1}{2}. Ho\`ang conjectured that every graph GG with α(G)3\alpha(G) \le 3 is perfectly divisible. We disprove this conjecture. In the same vein, a graph GG with at least one edge is kk-divisible if for every induced subgraph HH of GG with at least one edge, the vertex set V(H)V(H) can be partitioned into kk sets, none of which contains a largest clique of HH. It is easy to see that the chromatic number of a kk-divisible graph is at most kω1k^{\omega-1}. Ho\`ang conjectured that every even-hole-free graph is 3-divisible. We confirm this conjecture.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.09293,
  title  = {On two conjectures of Ho\`ang},
  author = {Hongzhang Chen and Kaiyang Lan and Wenlong Zhong},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.09293},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

5 pages, any comments and suggestions are welcome

R2 v1 2026-07-01T13:01:09.667Z