Triangle-free segment graphs with large chromatic number
Arkadiusz Pawlik, Jakub Kozik, Tomasz Krawczyk, Michał Lasoń, Piotr Micek, William T. Trotter, Bartosz Walczak · arXiv (Cornell University) · 2012
In the 1970s, Erdos asked whether the chromatic number of intersection graphs of line segments in the plane is bounded by a function of their clique number. We show the answer is no. Specifically, for each positive integer $k$, we construct a triangle-free family of line segments in the plane with chromatic number greater than $k$. Our construction disproves a conjecture of Scott that graphs excluding induced subdivisions of any fixed graph have chromatic number bounded by a function of their clique number.