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arXiv · 2607.20137

Induced Subgraph Bounds on the Zero Forcing Number and Chromatic Consequences

Dickson Y. B. Annor·Ben Howerton
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Abstract

Let $G$ be a graph with chromatic number $\chi(G)$, clique number $\omega(G)$ and zero forcing number $Z(G)$. We establish new lower bounds on $Z(G)$ in terms of induced triangle-free subgraphs. In particular, we show that if a graph $G$ contains an induced triangle-free subgraph $H$ with minimum degree $\delta(H) \ge 3$, then $Z(G)\ge\delta(H)+1$. As consequences, we prove that every triangle-free graph satisfies $\chi(G)\le\max\{3,Z(G)\}$ and obtain an application to planar graphs. Moreover, we prove that $\chi(G)\le \frac{Z(G)}{2}+2$ for every triangle-free graph.

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Dickson Y. B. Annor, Ben Howerton. 2026-07-22. Induced Subgraph Bounds on the Zero Forcing Number and Chromatic Consequences. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.20137

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