Optimal-size clique transversals in chordal graphs

Abstract

The following question was raised by Tuza in 1990 and Erdos et al. in 1992: if every edge of an n-vertex chordal graph G is contained in a clique of size at least four, does G have a clique transversal, i.e., a set of vertices meeting all non-trivial maximal cliques, of size at most n/4? We prove that every such graph G has a clique transversal of size at most 2(n-1)/7 if n>=5, which is the best possible bound.