Disproving the normal graph conjecture

Abstract

A graph $G$ is called normal if there exist two coverings, $\mathbb{C}$ and $\mathbb{S}$ of its vertex set such that every member of $\mathbb{C}$ induces a clique in $G$, every member of $\mathbb{S}$ induces an independent set in $G$ and $C\cap S\ne \varnothing$ for every $C\in \mathbb{C}$ and $S\in \mathbb{S}$. It has been conjectured by De Simone and Körner in 1999 that a graph $G$ is normal if $G$ does not contain $C_5$, $C_7$ and $\overline{C_7}$ as an induced subgraph. We disprove this conjecture.