English

On a problem of Erd\H{o}s about graphs whose size is the Tur\'{a}n number plus one

Combinatorics 2020-02-03 v1

Abstract

We consider finite simple graphs. Given a graph HH and a positive integer n,n, the Tur\'{a}n number of HH for the order n,n, denoted ex(n,H),{\rm ex}(n,H), is the maximum size of a graph of order nn not containing HH as a subgraph. Erd\H{o}s posed the following problem in 1990: "For which graphs HH is it true that every graph on nn vertices and ex(n,H)+1{\rm ex}(n,H)+1 edges contains at least two HHs? Perhaps this is always true." We solve the second part of this problem in the negative by proving that for every integer k4,k\ge 4, there exists a graph HH of order kk and at least two orders nn such that there exists a graph of order nn and size ex(n,H)+1{\rm ex}(n,H)+1 which contains exactly one copy of H.H. Denote by C4C_4 the 44-cycle. We also prove that for every integer nn with 6n11,6\le n\le 11, there exists a graph of order nn and size ex(n,C4)+1{\rm ex}(n,C_4)+1 which contains exactly one copy of C4,C_4, but for n=12n=12 or n=13,n=13, the minimum number of copies of C4C_4 in a graph of order nn and size ex(n,C4)+1{\rm ex}(n,C_4)+1 is 2.2.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2001.11723,
  title  = {On a problem of Erd\H{o}s about graphs whose size is the Tur\'{a}n number plus one},
  author = {Pu Qiao and Xingzhi Zhan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2001.11723},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

16 pages, 6 figures