  Motivated by questions about square-free monomial ideals in polynomial rings,
in 2010 Francisco et al. conjectured that for every positive integer k and
every k-critical (i.e., critically k-chromatic) graph, there is a set of
vertices whose replication produces a (k+1)-critical graph. (The replication of
a set W of vertices of a graph is the operation that adds a copy of each vertex
w in W, one at a time, and connects it to w and all its neighbours.)
  We disprove the conjecture by providing an infinite family of
counterexamples. Furthermore, the smallest member of the family answers a
question of Herzog and Hibi concerning the depth functions of square-free
monomial ideals in polynomial rings, and a related question on the persistence
property of such ideals.
