{"title":"Induced subgraphs of $K_r$-free graphs and the Erdős--Rogers problem","authors":"Lior Gishboliner, Oliver Janzer, Benny Sudakov","doi":"arxiv-2409.06650","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"For two graphs $F,H$ and a positive integer $n$, the function $f_{F,H}(n)$\ndenotes the largest $m$ such that every $H$-free graph on $n$ vertices contains\nan $F$-free induced subgraph on $m$ vertices. This function has been\nextensively studied in the last 60 years when $F$ and $H$ are cliques and\nbecame known as the Erd\\H{o}s-Rogers function. Recently, Balogh, Chen and Luo,\nand Mubayi and Verstra\\\"ete initiated the systematic study of this function in\nthe case where $F$ is a general graph. Answering, in a strong form, a question of Mubayi and Verstra\\\"ete, we prove\nthat for every positive integer $r$ and every $K_{r-1}$-free graph $F$, there\nexists some $\\varepsilon_F>0$ such that\n$f_{F,K_r}(n)=O(n^{1/2-\\varepsilon_F})$. This result is tight in two ways.\nFirstly, it is no longer true if $F$ contains $K_{r-1}$ as a subgraph.\nSecondly, we show that for all $r\\geq 4$ and $\\varepsilon>0$, there exists a\n$K_{r-1}$-free graph $F$ for which $f_{F,K_r}(n)=\\Omega(n^{1/2-\\varepsilon})$.\nAlong the way of proving this, we show in particular that for every graph $F$\nwith minimum degree $t$, we have $f_{F,K_4}(n)=\\Omega(n^{1/2-6/\\sqrt{t}})$.\nThis answers (in a strong form) another question of Mubayi and Verstra\\\"ete.\nFinally, we prove that there exist absolute constants $0<c<C$ such that for\neach $r\\geq 4$, if $F$ is a bipartite graph with sufficiently large minimum\ndegree, then $\\Omega(n^{\\frac{c}{\\log r}})\\leq f_{F,K_r}(n)\\leq\nO(n^{\\frac{C}{\\log r}})$. This shows that for graphs $F$ with large minimum\ndegree, the behaviour of $f_{F,K_r}(n)$ is drastically different from that of\nthe corresponding off-diagonal Ramsey number $f_{K_2,K_r}(n)$.","PeriodicalId":501407,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - MATH - Combinatorics","volume":"98 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"arXiv - MATH - Combinatorics","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2409.06650","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
For two graphs $F,H$ and a positive integer $n$, the function $f_{F,H}(n)$
denotes the largest $m$ such that every $H$-free graph on $n$ vertices contains
an $F$-free induced subgraph on $m$ vertices. This function has been
extensively studied in the last 60 years when $F$ and $H$ are cliques and
became known as the Erd\H{o}s-Rogers function. Recently, Balogh, Chen and Luo,
and Mubayi and Verstra\"ete initiated the systematic study of this function in
the case where $F$ is a general graph. Answering, in a strong form, a question of Mubayi and Verstra\"ete, we prove
that for every positive integer $r$ and every $K_{r-1}$-free graph $F$, there
exists some $\varepsilon_F>0$ such that
$f_{F,K_r}(n)=O(n^{1/2-\varepsilon_F})$. This result is tight in two ways.
Firstly, it is no longer true if $F$ contains $K_{r-1}$ as a subgraph.
Secondly, we show that for all $r\geq 4$ and $\varepsilon>0$, there exists a
$K_{r-1}$-free graph $F$ for which $f_{F,K_r}(n)=\Omega(n^{1/2-\varepsilon})$.
Along the way of proving this, we show in particular that for every graph $F$
with minimum degree $t$, we have $f_{F,K_4}(n)=\Omega(n^{1/2-6/\sqrt{t}})$.
This answers (in a strong form) another question of Mubayi and Verstra\"ete.
Finally, we prove that there exist absolute constants $0