Stanley's claw-free graph conjecture for chromatic symmetric functions

Let GG be a simple graph, and let XG(x)X_G({\bf x}) denote its chromatic symmetric function. A graph is claw-free if it has no induced subgraph isomorphic to the claw graph K1,3K_{1,3}. A symmetric function is ss-positive if it expands positively in the Schur function basis. Stanley's conjecture. If GG is claw-free, then XG(x)X_G({\bf x}) is ss-positive. Stanley verified the conjecture for co-bipartite graphs, and Gasharov proved it for claw-free incomparability graphs of posets; however, the examples in this paper give line graphs, hence claw-free graphs, whose chromatic symmetric functions are not ss-positive, disproving the conjecture.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Jacob P. Matherne and Alejandro H. Morales, “Chromatic symmetric functions of claw-free graphs are not Schur positive”, arXiv:2607.21508 (2026).

Additional references

66 papers in this index state this conjecture (1999–2026). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:2606.03436, arXiv:2601.13390, arXiv:2511.08969, arXiv:2506.08841, arXiv:2412.02932, arXiv:2410.21762, arXiv:2409.20478, arXiv:2408.13127, arXiv:2407.06155, arXiv:2405.17649, arXiv:2404.03904, arXiv:2403.09985, and 53 more.

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