Tree-alpha and excluding finitely many graphs

Abstract

We prove that a hereditary graph class $\mathcal{G}$ defined by finitely many excluded induced subgraphs has bounded tree-$\alpha$ if and only if it is "$(\mathrm{tw},\omega)$-bounded" (that is, for all $t\in \mathbb N$, the class of all $K_t$-free graphs in $\mathcal{G}$ has bounded treewidth). Equivalently, $\mathcal{G}$ has bounded tree-$\alpha$ if and only if it excludes a complete bipartite graph, a forest whose components each have at most three leaves, and the line graph of such a forest. This resolves two conjectures of Dallard, Krnc, Kwon, Milani\v{c}, Munaro, \v{S}torgel, and Wiederrecht: the above, and a weaker one that for all $a,b\in \mathbb N$, every hereditary class that excludes $K_{a,a}$ and the $b$-vertex path has bounded tree-$\alpha$. The latter was already open even for $(a,b)\in \{(2,7),(3,5)\}$, and only recently proved for $(a,b)=(2,6)$.