Related papers: Minimizing the number of independent sets in trian…
We prove tight upper bounds on the logarithmic derivative of the independence and matching polynomials of d-regular graphs. For independent sets, this theorem is a strengthening of the results of Kahn, Galvin and Tetali, and Zhao showing…
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…
There has been interest recently in maximizing the number of independent sets in graphs. For example, the Kahn-Zhao theorem gives an upper bound on the number of independent sets in a $d$-regular graph. Similarly, it is a corollary of the…
Given $d>0$ and a positive integer $n$, let $G$ be a triangle-free graph on $n$ vertices with average degree $d$. With an elegant induction, Shearer (1983) tightened a seminal result of Ajtai, Koml\'os and Szemer\'edi (1980/1981) by proving…
We prove a tight upper bound on the independence polynomial (and total number of independent sets) of cubic graphs of girth at least 5. The bound is achieved by unions of the Heawood graph, the point/line incidence graph of the Fano plane.…
The independence polynomial $I(G,x)$ of a finite graph $G$ is the generating function for the sequence of the number of independent sets of each cardinality. We investigate whether, given a fixed number of vertices and edges, there exists…
A $k$-independent set in a connected graph is a set of vertices such that any two vertices in the set are at distance greater than $k$ in the graph. The $k$-independence number of a graph, denoted $\alpha_k$, is the size of a largest…
An $n$-vertex, $d$-regular graph can have at most $2^{n/2+o_d(n)}$ independent sets. In this paper we address what happens with this upper bound when we impose the further condition that the graph has independence number at most $\alpha$.…
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…
We prove an asymptotically tight lower bound on the average size of independent sets in a triangle-free graph on $n$ vertices with maximum degree $d$, showing that an independent set drawn uniformly at random from such a graph has expected…
Extremal problems involving the enumeration of graph substructures have a long history in graph theory. For example, the number of independent sets in a $d$-regular graph on $n$ vertices is at most $(2^{d+1}-1)^{n/2d}$ by the Kahn-Zhao…
We study the zero sets of the independence polynomial on recursive sequences of graphs. We prove that for a maximally independent starting graph and a stable and expanding recursion algorithm, the zeros of the independence polynomial are…
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 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…
This paper presents a linear prioritized local algorithm that computes large independent sets on a random $d$-regular graph with small and fixed degree $d$. We studied experimentally the independence ratio obtained by the algorithm when $ d…
Nielsen proved that the maximum number of maximal independent sets (MIS's) of size $k$ in an $n$-vertex graph is asymptotic to $(n/k)^k$, with the extremal construction a disjoint union of $k$ cliques with sizes as close to $n/k$ as…
The $d$-independence number of a graph $G$ is the largest possible size of an independent set $I$ in $G$ where each vertex of $I$ has degree at least $d$ in $G$. Upper bounds for the $d$-independence number in planar graphs are well-known…
The $k$-independence number of a graph is the maximum size of a set of vertices at pairwise distance greater than $k$. A graph is called $k$-partially walk-regular if the number of closed walks of a given length $l\le k$, rooted at a vertex…
Paul Erd\H{o}s suggested the following problem: Determine or estimate the number of maximal triangle-free graphs on $n$ vertices. Here we show that the number of maximal triangle-free graphs is at most $2^{n^2/8+o(n^2)}$, which matches the…
A maximal independent set in a graph $G$ is an independent set that cannot be extended to a larger independent set by adding any vertex from $G$. This paper investigates the problem of determining the maximum number of maximal independent…