Coloring graphs with no induced five-vertex path or gem

Abstract

For a graph $G$, let $\chi(G)$ and $\omega(G)$ respectively denote the chromatic number and clique number of $G$. We give an explicit structural description of ($P_5$,gem)-free graphs, and show that every such graph $G$ satisfies $\chi(G)\le \lceil\frac{5\omega(G)}{4}\rceil$. Moreover, this bound is best possible.