English

Extremal graphs for disjoint union of vertex-critical graphs

Combinatorics 2025-02-24 v1

Abstract

For a graph FF, let EX(n,F){\rm EX}(n,F) be the set of FF-free graphs of order nn with the maximum number of edges. The graph FF is called vertex-critical, if the deletion of its some vertex induces a graph with smaller chromatic number. For example, an odd wheel (obtained by connecting a vertex to a cycle of even length) is a vertex-critical graph with chromatic number 3. For h2h\geq2, let F1,F2,...,FhF_{1},F_{2},...,F_{h} be vertex-critical graphs with the same chromatic number. Let 1ihFi\cup_{1\leq i\leq h}F_{i} be the disjoint union of them. In this paper, we characterize the graphs in EX(n,1ihFi){\rm EX}(n,\cup_{1\leq i\leq h}F_{i}), when there is a proper order among the graphs F1,F2,...,FhF_{1},F_{2},...,F_{h}. This solves a conjecture (on extremal problem for disjoint union of odd wheels) proposed by Xiao and Zamora \cite{XZ}.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2502.15456,
  title  = {Extremal graphs for disjoint union of vertex-critical graphs},
  author = {Wenqian Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.15456},
  year   = {2025}
}