Related papers: On the topological Kalai-Meshulam conjecture
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,…
Recently, Zhang and Wu proved a conjecture of Kalai and Meshulam, showing that for every graph $G$ without induced cycles of length divisible by $3$, the sum of all reduced Betti numbers of its independence complex $I(G)$ is at most $1$. We…
Given a graph $G$, the \textit{independence complex} $I(G)$ is the simplicial complex whose faces are the independent sets of $V(G)$. Let $\tilde{b}_i$ denote the $i$-th reduced Betti number of $I(G)$, and let $b(G)$ denote the sum of…
Let $G$ be a graph, and let $f_G$ be the sum of $(-1)^{|A|}$, over all stable sets $A$. If $G$ is a cycle with length divisible by three, then $f_G= \pm 2$. Motivated by topological considerations, G. Kalai and R. Meshulam made the…
The total Betti number of the independence complex of a graph is an intriguing graph invariant. Kalai and Meshulam have raised the question on its relation to cycles and the chromatic number of a graph, and a recent conjecture on that theme…
Answering a question of Kalai and Meshulam, we prove that graphs without induced cycles of length $3k$ have bounded chromatic number. This implies the very first case of a much broader question asserting that every graph with large…
A large body of research in graph theory concerns the induced subgraphs of graphs with large chromatic number, and especially which induced cycles must occur. In this paper, we unify and substantially extend results from a number of…
It was conjectured by Goyal, Shukla and Singh that the independence complex of the categorical product $K_2\times K_3\times K_n$ has the homotopy type of a wedge of $(n-1)(3n-2)$ spheres of dimension $3$. Here we prove this conjecture by…
A ternary graph is a graph with no induced cycles of length $0$ modulo $3$. It was recently shown that, if the independence complex of a ternary graph is not contractible, then it is homotopy equivalent to a sphere. When a ternary graph…
The independence complex of a chordal graph is known to be shellable due to a result of Van Tuyl and Villarreal. This is equivalent to the fact that cover ideal of a chordal graph has linear quotients. We use this result to obtain recursive…
The independence complex of a graph G is a simplicial complex whose simplices are the independent sets in G. In the last couple of decades, the independence complexes of square grids (with various boundary conditions) have gained much…
Independent sets play a key role into the study of graphs and important problems arising in graph theory reduce to them. We define the monomial ideal of independent sets associated to a finite simple graph and describe its homological and…
In this article, we introduce the notion of a wedge of graphs and provide detailed computations for the independence complex of a wedge of path and cycle graphs. In particular, we show that these complexes are either contractible or wedges…
We show that the independence complex of a chordal graph is contractible if and only if this complex is dismantlable (strong collapsible) and it is homotopy equivalent to a sphere if and only if its core is a cross-polytopal sphere. The…
A theorem of Shearer states that every $n$-vertex triangle-free graph of maximum degree $d \geq 2$ contains an independent set of size at least $(d\log d - d + 1)/(d - 1)^2 \cdot n$. Ajtai, Koml\'{o}s, Pintz, Spencer and Szemer\'{e}di…
The enumeration of independent sets of regular graphs is of interest in statistical mechanics, as it corresponds to the solution of hard-particle models. In 2004, it was conjectured by Fendleyet al. that for some rectangular grids, with…
We show that the independence complexes of generalised Mycielskian of complete graphs are homotopy equivalent to a wedge sum of spheres, and determine the number of copies and the dimensions of these spheres. We also prove that the…
Let $r\geq 3$ be an integer and $G$ be a graph. Let $\delta(G), \Delta(G)$, $\alpha(G)$ and $\mu(G)$ denotes minimum degree, maximum degree, independence number and matching number of $G$, respectively. Recently, Caro, Davila and Pepper…
We characterize the connected graphs of given order $n$ and given independence number $\alpha$ that maximize the number of maximum independent sets. For $3\leq \alpha\leq n/2$, there is a unique such graph that arises from the disjoint…
Ajtai, Koml\'os, and Szemer\'edi proved that for sufficiently large $t$ every triangle-free graph with $n$ vertices and average degree $t$ has an independent set of size at least $\frac{n}{100t}\log{t}$. We extend this by proving that the…