A counterexample to conjecture of Barefoot, Harary, and Jones (Q2366962)

A subset \(S\) of the vertex set \(V(G)\) of a graph \(G\) is called dominating in \(G\), if for each \(x\in V(G)-S\) there exists \(y\in S\) adjacent to \(x\). The domination number \(\alpha(G)\) of \(G\) is the minimum number of vertices of a dominating set in \(G\). Further the independent domination number \(\alpha'(G)\) of \(G\) is the minimum number of vertices of an independent (i.e. containing no two adjacent vertices) dominating set in \(G\). \textit{C. Barefoot}, \textit{F. Harary} and \textit{K. F. Jones} [Graphs Comb. 7, No. 2, 205-208 (1991; Zbl 0728.05033)] conjectured that for any 3-connected cubic graph \(G\) the difference \(\alpha'(G)-\alpha(G)\) is either 0 or 1. The authors of this paper present a sequence of 3- connected cubic graphs \(G_ k\) for positive integers \(k\) and assert that for any of them \(\alpha(G_ k)=6k\), \(\alpha'(G_ k)=6k+\lceil k/4\rceil\) and thus the difference \(\alpha'-\alpha\) may be arbitrarily large. Proof is omitted; the authors assert that it is tedious.