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 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 -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 -free graphs.
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}
}
Comments
10 pages, comments are welcome