Induced odd cycle packing number, independent sets, and chromatic number

Abstract: The induced odd cycle packing number $iocp(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the maximum integer $k$ such that $G$ contains an induced subgraph consisting of $k$ pairwise vertex-disjoint odd cycles. Motivated by applications to geometric graphs, Bonamy et al.~\cite{indoc} proved that graphs of bounded induced odd cycle packing number, bounded VC dimension, and linear independence number admit a randomized EPTAS for the independence number. We show that the assumption of bounded VC dimension is not necessary, exhibiting a randomized algorithm that for any integers $k\ge 0$ and $t\ge 1$ and any $n$-vertex graph $G$ of induced odd cycle packing number at most $k$ returns in time $O_{k,t}(n^{k+4})$ an independent set of $G$ whose size is at least $\alpha(G)-n/t$ with high probability. In addition, we present $\chi$-boundedness results for graphs with bounded odd cycle packing number, and use them to design a QPTAS for the independence number only assuming bounded induced odd cycle packing number.