English

Maximizing the number of stars in graphs with forbidden properties

Combinatorics 2025-04-03 v1

Abstract

Erd\H{o}s proved an upper bound on the number of edges in an nn-vertex non-Hamiltonian graph with given minimum degree and showed sharpness via two members of a particular graph family. F\"{u}redi, Kostochka and Luo showed that these two graphs play the same role when ``number of edges'' is replaced by ``number of t-stars,'' and that two members of a more general graph family maximize the number of edges among non-kk-edge-Hamiltonian graphs. In this paper we generalize their former result from Hamiltonicity to related properties (traceability, Hamiltonian-connectedness, kk-edge Hamiltonicity, kk-Hamiltonicity) and their latter result from edges to tt-stars. We identify a family of extremal graphs for each property that is forbidden. This problem without the minimum degree condition was also open; here we conjecture a complete description of the extremal family for each property, and prove the characterization in some cases. Finally, using a different family of extremal graphs, we find the maximum number of tt-stars in non-kk-connected graphs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2504.01364,
  title  = {Maximizing the number of stars in graphs with forbidden properties},
  author = {Zhanar Berikkyzy and Kirsten Hogenson and Rachel Kirsch and Jessica McDonald},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.01364},
  year   = {2025}
}

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19 pages