English

Proof of Thomassen's Conjecture on Highly connected subgraphs with large chromatic number

Combinatorics 2026-05-05 v1

Abstract

For integers k1k\ge 1 and m2m\ge 2, let g(k,m)g(k,m) be the least integer n1n\ge 1 such that every graph with chromatic number at least nn contains a (k+1)(k+1)-connected subgraph with chromatic number at least mm. We prove that g(k,m)max(m+2k2,3k+1) g(k,m)\le \max(m+2k-2,\,3k+1) for all k1k\ge 1 and m2m\ge 2, establishing the 1983 conjecture of Thomassen that g(k,k+1)3k+1g(k,k+1)\le 3k+1. The key new ingredient is a Hall-feasibility argument replacing the final numerical step in the proof of Nguyen.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.02543,
  title  = {Proof of Thomassen's Conjecture on Highly connected subgraphs with large chromatic number},
  author = {Achintya Raya Polavarapu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.02543},
  year   = {2026}
}

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10 pages