Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2019
As usual, $P_{n}$ (
$n\geq 1$) denotes the path on
$n$ vertices. The gem is the graph consisting of a
$P_{4}$ together with an additional vertex adjacent to each vertex of the
$P_{4}$. A graph is called (
$P_{5}$, gem)-free if it has no induced subgraph isomorphic to a
$P_{5}$ or to a gem. For a graph
$G$,
$\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}(G)$ denotes its chromatic number and
$\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}(G)$ denotes the maximum size of a clique in
$G$. We show that
$\unicode[STIX]{x1D712}(G)\leq \lfloor \frac{3}{2}\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}(G)\rfloor$ for every (
$P_{5}$, gem)-free graph
$G$.
Shenwei Huang is the corresponding author. The research of the first author was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) grant RGPIN-2016-06517; the research of the second author was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China grant 11801284; the research of the third author was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) grant RGPIN-2016-06517 and an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award.