The homotopy type of the independence complex of graphs with no induced cycles of length divisible by 3 (Q2143403)

The independence complex of a graph \(G\) is a simplicial complex whose simplices are the independent sets of \(G\) and we call a graph ternary if it contains no induced cycle of length divisible by 3. In [\textit{H. Wu} and \textit{W. Zhang}, ``The Betti number of the independence complex of ternary graphs'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2011.10939}], the authors prove that the total Betti number of the independence complex of ternary graphs is at most 1. In this article, the author strengthens the result of Wu and Zhang [loc. cit.] by showing that the independence complex of ternary graphs is either contractible or homotopy equivalent to a sphere. This also proves \textit{A. Engström}'s conjecture 1.5 [``On the topological Kalai-Meshulam conjecture'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2009.11077}].