Reuniting $χ$-boundedness with polynomial $χ$-boundedness

A class $\mathcal{F}$ of graphs is $χ$-bounded if there is a function $f$ such that $χ(H)\le f(ω(H))$ for all induced subgraphs $H$ of a graph in $\mathcal{F}$. If $f$ can be chosen to be a polynomial, we say that $\mathcal{F}$ is polynomially $χ$-bounded. Esperet proposed a conjecture that every $χ$-bounded class of graphs is polynomially $χ$-bounded. This conjecture has been disproved; it has been shown that there are classes of graphs that are $χ$-bounded but not polynomially $χ$-bounded. Nevertheless, inspired by Esperet's conjecture, we introduce Pollyanna classes of graphs. A class $\mathcal{C}$ of graphs is Pollyanna if $\mathcal{C}\cap \mathcal{F}$ is polynomially $χ$-bounded for every $χ$-bounded class $\mathcal{F}$ of graphs. We prove that several classes of graphs are Pollyanna and also present some proper classes of graphs that are not Pollyanna.

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