English

The optimal $χ$-bound for $\{P_6, \text{dart}, K_4\}$-free graphs

Combinatorics 2026-07-16 v1

Abstract

A \textit{diamond} is a graph obtained from K4K_4 by removing an edge, and a \textit{dart} is a graph obtained from a diamond by adding a pendant edge to a vertex of degree 3. We prove that every {P6,dart,K4}\{P_6, \text{dart}, K_4\}-free graph is 6-colorable. This improves the previous bound of 7 due to Hong and Xu \cite{HongXu2025} and resolves their open question on the optimality of the bound. Our result also extends a theorem of Karthick and Mishra~\cite{KarthickMishra2018}, who proved 6-colorability for the class of {P6,diamond,K4}\{P_6, \text{diamond}, K_4\}-free graphs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.14667,
  title  = {The optimal $χ$-bound for $\{P_6, \text{dart}, K_4\}$-free graphs},
  author = {Yidong Zhou and Kaiyang Lan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.14667},
  year   = {2026}
}

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