English

The generalized Tur\'an number for K_3 in graphs without suspensions of a path on five vertices

Combinatorics 2025-09-05 v1

Abstract

Given graphs HH and FF, the generalized Tur\'an number \ex(n,H,F)\ex(n, H, F) is defined as the maximum number of copies of HH in an nn-vertex graph that contains no copy of FF. The suspension F^\widehat{F} of a graph FF is obtained by adding a new vertex that is adjacent to every vertex of FF. Mubayi and Mukherjee (2023, DM) conjectured that \ex(n,K3,Pk^)=k22n28+o(n2)\ex(n, K_3, \widehat{P_k})=\left\lfloor \frac{k-2}{2}\right\rfloor \cdot \frac{n^2}{8}+o(n^2), where PkP_k is a path on k4k\ge 4 vertices. Using the triangle removal lemma, they verified this conjecture for k=4,5,6k=4,5,6. Later, Mukherjee (2024, DM) established the exact value \ex(n,K3,P4^)=n2/8\ex(n, K_3, \widehat{P_4})=\left\lfloor n^2/8\right\rfloor. In this paper, using the stability method, we determine the exact value of \ex(n,K3,P5^)\ex(n, K_3, \widehat{P_5}) by showing that for sufficiently large nn, \ex(n,K3,P5^)=n2/8.\ex(n,K_3, \widehat{P_5})=\left\lfloor n^2/8\right\rfloor.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.03851,
  title  = {The generalized Tur\'an number for K_3 in graphs without suspensions of a path on five vertices},
  author = {Doudou Hei and Xinmin Hou and Yue Ma},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.03851},
  year   = {2025}
}