Related papers: Hitting all maximum independent sets

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 $\alpha$.…

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 an $n$-vertex graph $G$, let $h(G)$ denote the smallest size of a subset of $V(G)$ such that it intersects every maximum independent set of $G$. A conjecture posed by Bollob\'{a}s, Erd\H{o}s and Tuza in early 90s remains widely open,…

For a graph $G$, a vertex subset $S$ is called a maximum generalized $k$-independent set if the induced subgraph $G[S]$ does not contain a $k$-tree as its subgraph, and the subset has maximum cardinality. The generalized $k$-independence…

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…

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…

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…

A $k$-nearly independent vertex subset of a graph $G$ is a set of vertices that induces a subgraph containing exactly $k$ edges. For $k = 0$, this coincides with the classical notion of independent subsets. This paper investigates the…

Let $G$ be a triangle-free graph with $n$ vertices and average degree $t$. We show that $G$ contains at least \[ e^{(1-n^{-1/12})\frac{1}{2}\frac{n}{t}\ln t (\frac{1}{2}\ln t-1)} \] independent sets. This improves a recent result of the…

We find the maximum number of maximal independent sets in two families of graphs: all graphs with $n$ vertices and at most $r$ cycles, and all such graphs that are also connected. In addition, we characterize the extremal graphs.

For a fixed graph G, a maximal independent set is an independent set that is not a proper subset of any other independent set. P. Erd\"os, and independently, J. W. Moon and L. Moser, and R. E. Miller and D. E. Muller, determined the maximum…

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…

Let $MIS(G)$ be the set of all maximal independent sets in a graph $G$, and let $mis(G)=|MIS(G)|$. In this paper, we show that for any tree $T$ with $n$ vertices and independence number $\alpha$, \[mis(T)\geq f(n-\alpha),\] and for any…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Let $i_t(G)$ denote the number of independent sets of size $t$ in a graph $G$. Levit and Mandrescu have conjectured that for all bipartite $G$ the sequence $(i_t(G))_{t \geq 0}$ (the {\em independent set sequence} of $G$) is unimodal. We…

Let $G = (V,E)$ be a graph and $k \ge 0$ an integer. A $k$-independent set $S \subseteq V$ is a set of vertices such that the maximum degree in the graph induced by $S$ is at most $k$. With $\alpha_k(G)$ we denote the maximum cardinality of…

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…