Related papers: Counting independent sets in triangle-free graphs

A $k$-uniform hypergraph with $n$ vertices is an $(n,k,\ell)$-omitting system if it does not contain two edges whose intersection has size exactly $\ell$. If in addition it does not contain two edges whose intersection has size greater than…

We describe an infinite family of graphs $G_n$, where $G_n$ has $n$ vertices, independence number at least $n/4$, and no set of less than $\sqrt{n}/2$ vertices intersects all its maximum independent sets. This is motivated by a question of…

For a 3-uniform hypergraph (3-graph) $F$, let $r(F,n)$ be the smallest $N$ such that any $N$-vertex $F$-free 3-graph has an independent set of size $n$. We construct a $3$-graph $H_2$ with six vertices and five edges such that…

We consider numbers and sizes of independent sets in graphs with minimum degree at least $d$, when the number $n$ of vertices is large. In particular we investigate which of these graphs yield the maximum numbers of independent sets of…

One of Erdos's conjectures states that every triangle-free graph on $n$ vertices has an induced subgraph on $n/2$ vertices with at most $n^2/50$ edges. We report several partial results towards this conjecture. In particular, we establish…

We study the class of independence complexes of claw-free graphs. The main theorem give good bounds on the connectivity of these complexes, given bounds for a few subcomplexes of the same class. Two applications are presented. Firstly, we…

We prove Engstr\"{o}m's conjecture that the independence complex of graphs with no induced cycle of length divisible by $3$ is either contractible or homotopy equivalent to a sphere. Our result strengthens a result by Zhang and Wu,…

Let m(G) denote the number of maximal independent sets of vertices in a graph G and let c(n,r) be the maximum value of m(G) over all connected graphs with n vertices and at most r cycles. A theorem of Griggs, Grinstead, and Guichard gives a…

We prove that for any triangle-free intersection graph of $n$ axis-parallel segments in the plane, the independence number $\alpha$ of this graph is at least $\alpha \ge n/4 + \Omega(\sqrt{n})$. We complement this with a construction of a…

One of the central questions in Ramsey theory asks how small can be the size of the largest clique and independent set in a graph on $N$ vertices. By the celebrated result of Erd\H{o}s from 1947, the random graph on $N$ vertices with edge…

We study the algorithmic task of finding large independent sets in Erdos-Renyi $r$-uniform hypergraphs on $n$ vertices having average degree $d$. Krivelevich and Sudakov showed that the maximum independent set has density $\left(\frac{r\log…

A graph $G$ is called a $(3,j;n)$-minimal Ramsey graph if it has the least amount of edges, $e(3,j;n)$, given that $G$ is triangle-free, the independence number $\alpha(G) < j$ and that $G$ has $n$ vertices. Triangle-free graphs $G$ with…

In 1967, Erd\H{o}s asked for the greatest chromatic number, $f(n)$, amongst all $n$-vertex, triangle-free graphs. An observation of Erd\H{o}s and Hajnal together with Shearer's classical upper bound for the off-diagonal Ramsey number $R(3,…

The size-Ramsey number $\hat r(G')$ of a graph $G'$ is defined as the smallest integer $m$ so that there exists a graph $G$ with $m$ edges such that every $2$-coloring of the edges of $G$ contains a monochromatic copy of $G'$. Answering a…

The Cayley sum graph $\Gamma_S$ of a set $S \subseteq \mathbb{Z}_n$ is defined on the vertex set $\mathbb{Z}_n$, with an edge between distinct $x, y \in \mathbb{Z}_n$ if $x + y \in S$. Campos, Dahia, and Marciano have recently shown that if…

Explicit construction of Ramsey graphs has remained a challenging open problem for a long time. Frankl--Wilson \cite{FW}, Alon \cite{A} and Grolmusz \cite{G2} gave the best explicit constructions of graphs on $m$ vertices with no clique or…

The well-known Ramsey number $r(t,u)$ is the smallest integer $n$ such that every $K_t$-free graph of order $n$ contains an independent set of size $u$. In other words, it contains a subset of $u$ vertices with no $K_2$. Erd{\H o}s and…

The $n$-star $S_n$ is the $n$-vertex triple system with ${n-1 \choose 2}$ edges all of which contain a fixed vertex, and $K_4^-$ is the unique triple system with four vertices and three edges. We prove that the Ramsey number $r(K_4^-, S_n)$…

We show that the number of independent sets in an N-vertex, d-regular graph is at most (2^{d+1} - 1)^{N/2d}, where the bound is sharp for a disjoint union of complete d-regular bipartite graphs. This settles a conjecture of Alon in 1991 and…

We study the typical structure and the number of triangle-free graphs with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges where $m$ is large enough so that a typical triangle-free graph has a cut containing nearly all of its edges, but may not be bipartite.…