Related papers: Large independent sets from local considerations

The size of a largest independent set of vertices in a given graph $G$ is denoted by $\alpha(G)$ and is called its independence number (or stability number). Given a graph $G$ and an integer $K,$ it is NP-complete to decide whether…

For given graph $H$, the independence number $\alpha(H)$ of $H$, is the size of the maximum independent set of $V(H)$. Finding the maximum independent set in a graph is a NP-hard problem. Another version of the independence number is…

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 $\alpha$.…

We study the following question raised by Erd\H{o}s and Hajnal in the early 90's. Over all $n$-vertex graphs $G$ what is the smallest possible value of $m$ for which any $m$ vertices of $G$ contain both a clique and an independent set of…

Computing the maximum size of an independent set in a graph is a famously hard combinatorial problem that has been well-studied for various classes of graphs. When it comes to random graphs, only the classical Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi-Gilbert…

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…

Determining the size of a maximum independent set of a graph $G$, denoted by $\alpha(G)$, is an NP-hard problem. Therefore, many attempts are made to find upper and lower bounds, or exact values of $\alpha (G)$ for special classes of…

The independence number of a hypergraph H is the size of a largest set of vertices containing no edge of H. In this paper, we prove new sharp bounds on the independence number of n-vertex (r+1)-uniform hypergraphs in which every r-element…

Let $G$ be a graph without isolated vertices and let $\alpha(G)$ be its stability number and $\tau(G)$ its covering number. The {\it $\alpha_{v}$-cover} number of a graph, denoted by $\alpha_{v}(G)$, is the maximum natural number $m$ such…

Let $G$ be a graph on $n$ vertices of independence number $\alpha(G)$ such that every induced subgraph of $G$ on $n-k$ vertices has an independent set of size at least $\alpha(G) - \ell$. What is the largest possible $\alpha(G)$ in terms of…

Every $n$-vertex planar triangle-free graph with maximum degree at most $3$ has an independent set of size at least $\frac{3}{8}n$. This was first conjectured by Albertson, Bollob\'as and Tucker, and was later proved by Heckman and Thomas.…

We give a probabilistic construction of a $3$-uniform hypergraph on $N$ vertices with independence number $O(\log N / \log \log N)$ in which there are at most two edges among any four vertices. This bound is tight and solves a longstanding…

A set $S$ of vertices of a graph $G$ is exponentially independent if, for every vertex $u$ in $S$, $$\sum\limits_{v\in S\setminus \{ u\}}\left(\frac{1}{2}\right)^{{\rm dist}_{(G,S)}(u,v)-1}<1,$$ where ${\rm dist}_{(G,S)}(u,v)$ is the…

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…

Let $G$ be a graph with vertex set $V(G)$ and edge set $E(G)$. A set $I_0(G) \subseteq V(G)$ is a vertex independent set if no two vertices in $I_0(G)$ are adjacent in $G$. We study $\alpha_1(G)$, which is the maximum cardinality of a set…

A well-known result of Ajtai et al. from 1982 states that every $k$-graph $H$ on $n$ vertices, with girth at least five, and average degree $t^{k-1}$ contains an independent set of size $c n (\log t)^{1/(k-1)}/t$ for some $c>0$. In this…

If $A$ is an independent set of a graph $G$ such that the vertices in $A$ have different degrees, then we call $A$ an irregular independent set of $G$. If $D$ is a dominating set of $G$ such that the vertices that are not in $D$ have…

We study the algorithmic task of finding a large independent set in a sparse Erd\H{o}s-R\'{e}nyi random graph with $n$ vertices and average degree $d$. The maximum independent set is known to have size $(2 \log d / d)n$ in the double limit…

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…