1
$\begingroup$

Following to my previous question on the same topic, I would like to have some opinions whether the present refinement have some chances to work or is doomed to fail.

Given the positive integers $n$ and $m$, consider the set of graphs $\mathcal{G} = \{G=(V,E): |V|=n \land |E|=m\}$.

For which values of $n$ and $m$ does the following requirement hold:

$\forall G \in \mathcal{G}$ there exists at least one complete $k$-partite subgraph of $G$ with $2 \le k \le n$ and with parts $V_1, \ldots ,V_k$ such that:

$$\prod_{j=1}^k (1+|V_j|)-1 \gt \frac{4n}{3}?$$

In particular I am interested in the case $n=39$ and $m=113$. With respect to the previous question, I have lowered $n$ but increased the minimum of the expression to $4n/3$. I am not sure how to adapt the counterexamples there to this generalization of the problem.

$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ In view of your previous question: do you want to get a complete $k$-partite subtraph? $\endgroup$ Nov 16, 2022 at 21:47
  • $\begingroup$ @Ilya Bogdanov Yes complete, I forgot about it. I have updated the question. Thank you. $\endgroup$ Nov 16, 2022 at 22:19

1 Answer 1

1
$\begingroup$

There is a $C_4$-free bipartite graph $B$ with 19 vertices on one side, 20 vertices on the other side, and 92 edges. Its vertices have degree 4 or 5, so it is easy to find a path $P$ of 21 edges in $K_{19,20}-B$. Now consider the 113-edge union $G=B\cup P$.

Since $G$ is bipartite, it has no complete multipartite subgraph other than complete bipartite graphs. Now by inspection $K_{2,6}$, $K_{3,5}$ and $K_{4,4}$ still contain $C_4$ if a path or fragments of a path is removed, so $G$ doesn't contain them. Also the degree of $G$ is at most 7. So the only complete bipartite graphs that $G$ might contain are $K_{1,1},\ldots,K_{1,7},K_{2,2},K_{2,3},K_{2,4},K_{2,5},K_{3,3},K_{3,4}$. The maximum possible $\prod (|V_i|+1)-1$ is 19 if $K_{3,4}$ is present. Probably it is possible to choose $P$ so that $K_{3,4}$ is avoided, in which case the maximum would be 17.

Here is the $20\times 19$ incidence matrix of $B$. Actually the same argument works with any $C_4$-free bipartite graph with at least 78 edges and no vertices of very high degree. There are very many choices.

  1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
  1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
  0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
  0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
  0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
  1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
  0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
  0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
  0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
  0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
  0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1
  0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
  0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
  0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0
  0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0
  0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
  0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

ADDED: Instead of choosing $P$ as a single path, choose vertex-disjoint paths of 1 or 2 edges. Now (needs checking) I think that $G$ can't even contain $K_{3,3}$.

$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.