Related papers: Two problems on independent sets in graphs

Let $i_t(G)$ be the number of independent sets of size $t$ in a graph $G$. Alavi, Erd\H{o}s, Malde and Schwenk made the conjecture that if $G$ is a tree then the independent set sequence $\{i_t(G)\}_{t\geq 0}$ of $G$ is unimodal; Levit and…

Let $i_t(G)$ be the number of independent sets of size $t$ in a graph $G$. Engbers and Galvin asked how large $i_t(G)$ could be in graphs with minimum degree at least $\delta$. They further conjectured that when $n\geq 2\delta$ and $t\geq…

Galvin showed that for all fixed $\delta$ and sufficiently large $n$, the $n$-vertex graph with minimum degree $\delta$ that admits the most independent sets is the complete bipartite graph $K_{\delta,n-\delta}$. He conjectured that except…

The independence polynomial $i(G,x)$ of a graph $G$ is the generating function of the numbers of independent sets of each size. A graph of order $n$ is very well-covered if every maximal independent set has size $n/2$. Levit and Mandrescu…

Let ${\rm ind}(G)$ be the number of independent sets in a graph $G$. We show that if $G$ has maximum degree at most $5$ then $$ {\rm ind}(G) \leq 2^{{\rm iso}(G)} \prod_{uv \in E(G)} {\rm ind}(K_{d(u),d(v)})^{\frac{1}{d(u)d(v)}} $$ (where…

Settling Kahn's conjecture (2001), we prove the following upper bound on the number $i(G)$ of independent sets in a graph $G$ without isolated vertices: \[ i(G) \le \prod_{uv \in E(G)} i(K_{d_u,d_v})^{1/(d_u d_v)}, \] where $d_u$ is the…

Let $I(G;x)$ denote the independence polynomial of a graph $G$. In this paper we study the unimodality properties of $I(G;x)$ for some composite graphs $G$. Given two graphs $G_1$ and $G_2$, let $G_1[G_2]$ denote the lexicographic product…

We consider a natural, yet seemingly not much studied, extremal problem in bipartite graphs. A bi-hole of size $t$ in a bipartite graph $G$ is a copy of $K_{t, t}$ in the bipartite complement of $G$. Let $f(n, \Delta)$ be the largest $k$…

For a graph $G=(V,E)$, let $bc(G)$ denote the minimum number of pairwise edge disjoint complete bipartite subgraphs of $G$ so that each edge of $G$ belongs to exactly one of them. It is easy to see that for every graph $G$, $bc(G) \leq n…

An independent set of size $k$ in a finite undirected graph $G$ is a set of $k$ vertices of the graph, no two of which are connected by an edge. Let $x_{k}(G)$ be the number of independent sets of size $k$ in the graph $G$ and let…

Write ${\cal I}(G)$ for the set of independent sets of a graph $G$ and $i(G)$ for $|{\cal I}(G)|$. It has been conjectured (by Alon and Kahn) that for an $N$-vertex, $d$-regular graph $G$, $$ i(G) \leq \left(2^{d+1}-1\right)^{N/2d}. $$ If…

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 graph $G=(V,E)$, let $\tau(G)$ denote the minimum number of pairwise edge disjoint complete bipartite subgraphs of $G$ so that each edge of $G$ belongs to exactly one of them. It is easy to see that for every graph $G$, $\tau(G) \leq…

Given a graph $G$, we study the number of independent sets in $G$, denoted $i(G)$. This parameter is known as both the Merrifield-Simmons index of a graph as well as the Fibonacci number of a graph. In this paper, we give general bounds for…

A set $S$ of vertices in a graph $G$ is a dominating set if every vertex not in $S$ is adjacent to a vertex in $S$. If, in addition, $S$ is an independent set, then $S$ is an independent dominating set. The independent domination number…

Given any graph $G$, the (adjacency) spread of $G$ is the maximum absolute difference between any two eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix of $G$. In this paper, we resolve a pair of 20-year-old conjectures of Gregory, Hershkowitz, and…

A dominating set in a graph $G$ is a set $S$ of vertices such that every vertex of $G$ is either in $S$ or is adjacent to a vertex in $S$. Nordhaus-Gaddum inequailties relate a graph $G$ to its complement $\bar{G}$. In this spirit Wagner…

In this paper, we establish a couple of results on extremal problems in bipartite graphs. Firstly, we show that every sufficiently large bipartite graph with average degree $D$ and with $n$ vertices on each side has a balanced independent…

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a graph and $n$ a positive integer. Let $I_n(G)$ be the abstract simplicial complex whose simplices are the subsets of $V$ that do not contain an independent set of size $n$ in $G$. We study the collapsibility numbers of…

An independent dominating set of a graph, also known as a maximal independent set, is a set $S$ of pairwise non-adjacent vertices such that every vertex not in $S$ is adjacent to some vertex in $S$. We prove that for $\Delta=4$ or…