Chromatic number of Hasse diagrams, eyebrows and dimension (Q1182040)

The authors provide a negative solution (for \(k\geq 3)\) to a problem due to \textit{W. Trotter} and \textit{J. Nešetřil} concerning the existence of positive integers \(n(k)\) such that posets \(P\) whose Hasse diagrams have chromatic number \(\chi(H(P))\geq n(k)\) also have (poset) dimension \(\dim(P)\geq k\). In the process of providing a class of examples use is made of an inequality-cum-construction technique contained in several propositions concerning a novel parameter eye\((G)\) of unoriented graphs \(G\), defined as the minimal positive integer \(k\) such that there are linear orders \(\leq_ 1,\cdots,\leq_ k\) defined on the vertices of \(G\), having no common eyebrow in \(G\). Here, given \(G\) and \(\leq\), an eyebrow in \(G\) is a triple \((x,y,z)\) of vertices such that \((x,z)\) is an edge and \(y\) is between \(x\) and \(z\) in the order, i.e., \(x<y<z\) or \(z<y<x\).