Independence, induced subgraphs, and domination in $K_{1,r}$-free graphs
Abstract
Let be a graph and a family of graphs. Define as the maximum order of any induced subgraph of that belongs to the family . For the family of graphs with \emph{chromatic number} at most~, we prove that if is -free, then , where is the \emph{domination number}. When is the family of empty graphs, this bound simplifies to for -free (claw-free) graphs, where is the \emph{independence number} of . For -regular graphs, this is further refined to the bound , which is tight for . Using Ramsey theory, we extend this framework to edge-hereditary graph families, showing that for -free graphs, we have , where is the set of graphs not in . Specializing to -free graphs, we show . Finally, for the \emph{-independence number} , we prove that if is -free with order and minimum degree , and this bound is sharp for all parameters.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2501.05291,
title = {Independence, induced subgraphs, and domination in $K_{1,r}$-free graphs},
author = {Yair Caro and Randy Davila and Michael A. Henning and Ryan Pepper},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.05291},
year = {2026}
}