Deciding k-colourability of $P_5$-free graphs in polynomial time

Abstract

The problem of computing the chromatic number of a $P_5$-free graph is known to be NP-hard. In contrast to this negative result, we show that determining whether or not a $P_5$-free graph admits a $k$-colouring, for each fixed number of colours $k$, can be done in polynomial time. If such a colouring exists, our algorithm produces it.