The Erdős–Pósa Property for Odd Cycles in Graphs of Large Connectivity

Dedicated to the memory of Paul Erdős A graph G is k-linked if G has at least 2k vertices, and, for any vertices , , ..., , , , ..., , G contains k pairwise disjoint paths such that joins for i = 1, 2, ..., k. We say that G is k-parity-linked if G is k-linked and, in addition, the paths can be chosen such that the parities of their lengths are prescribed. We prove the existence of a function g(k) such that every g(k)-connected graph is k-parity-linked if the deletion of any set of less than 4k-3 vertices leaves a nonbipartite graph. As a consequence, we obtain a result of Erdős–Pósa type for odd cycles in graphs of large connectivity. Also, every -connected graph contains a totally odd -subdivision, that is, a subdivision of in which each edge of corresponds to an odd path, if and only if the deletion of any vertex leaves a nonbipartite graph. Received May 13, 1999/Revised June 19, 2000     

Disjoint cycles in digraphs

We show that, for each natural numberk, these exists a (smallest) natural numberf(k) such that any digraph of minimum outdegree at leastf(k) containsk disjoint cycles. We conjecture thatf(k)=2k−1 and verify this fork=2 and we show that, for eachk≧3, the determination off(k) is a finite problem. Dedicated to Paul Erdős on his seventieth birthday     

Explicit construction of regular graphs without small cycles

For every integerd>2 we give an explicit construction of infinitely many Cayley graphsX of degreed withn(X) vertices and girth >0.4801...(logn(X))/log (d−1)−2. This improves a result of Margulis. Dedicated to Paul Erdős on his seventieth birthday     

Proof of the Erdős–Faudree Conjecture on Quadrilaterals

In this paper, we prove the Erdős–Faudree’s conjecture: If G is a graph of order 4k and the minimum degree of G is at least 2k then G contains k disjoint cycles of length 4.     

Covering of graphs by complete bipartite subgraphs; Complexity of 0–1 matrices

We prove that the edge set of an arbitrary simple graphG onn vertices can be covered by at mostn−[log₂ n]+1 complete bipartite subgraphs ofG. If the weight of a subgraph is the number of its vertices, then there always exists a cover with total weightc(n ²/logn) and this bound is sharp apart from a constant factor. Our result answers a problem of T. G. Tarján. Dedicated to Paul Erdős on his seventieth birthday     

On the sum of the reciprocals of cycle lengths in sparse graphs

For a graphG let ℒ(G)=Σ{1/k contains a cycle of lengthk}. Erdős and Hajnal [1] introduced the real functionf(α)=inf {ℒ (G)|E(G)|/|V(G)|≧α} and suggested to study its properties. Obviouslyf(1)=0. We provef (k+1/k)≧(300k logk)⁻¹ for all sufficiently largek, showing that sparse graphs of large girth must contain many cycles of different lengths.     

A sufficient degree condition for a graph to contain all trees of size <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>

The Erdős-Sós conjecture says that a graph G on n vertices and number of edges e(G) > n(k− 1)/2 contains all trees of size k. In this paper we prove a sufficient condition for a graph to contain every tree of size k formulated in terms of the minimum edge degree ζ(G) of a graph G defined as ζ(G) = min{d(u) + d(v) − 2: uv ∈ E(G)}. More precisely, we show that a connected graph G with maximum degree Δ(G) ≥ k and minimum edge degree ζ(G) ≥ 2k − 4 contains every tree of k edges if d _G (x) + d _G (y) ≥ 2k − 4 for all pairs x, y of nonadjacent neighbors of a vertex u of d _G (u) ≥ k.     

Independent sets ink-chromatic graphs

A graph is said to have propertyP _k if in eachk-colouring ofG using allk colours there arek independent vertices having all colours. An (unpublished) suggestion of P. Erdős is answered in the affirmative: For eachk≧3 there is a k-critical graph withP _k . With the aid of a construction of T. Gallaik-chromatic graphs (k≧7) withP _k orP _k+1 of arbitrarily high connectivity are obtained. The main result is: Eachk-chromatic graph (k≧3) of girth ≧6 hasP _k or is a circuit of length 7. Dedicated to Paul Erdős on his seventieth birthday     

An erdős—Gallai conjecture

The following conjecture of P. Erdős and T. Gallai is confirmed: every graph onn vertices can be covered byn−1 circuits and edges.     

On a Max-min Problem Concerning Weights of Edges

The weight w(e) of an edge e = uv of a graph is defined to be the sum of degrees of the vertices u and v. In 1990 P. Erdős asked the question: What is the minimum weight of an edge of a graph G having n vertices and m edges? This paper brings a precise answer to the above question of Erdős. Received July 12, 1999     

Regressions and monotone chains: A ramsey-type extremal problem for partial orders

Aregression is a functiong from a partially ordered set to itself such thatg(x)≦x for allz. Amonotone k-chain is a chain ofk elementsx ₁<x ₂ <...<x _k such thatg(x ₁)≦g(x ₂)≦...≦g(x _k ). If a partial order has sufficiently many elements compared to the size of its largest antichain, every regression on it will have a monotone (k + 1)-chain. Fixingw, letf(w, k) be the smallest number such that every regression on every partial order with size leastf(w, k) but no antichain larger thanw has a monotone (k + 1)-chain. We show thatf(w, k)=(w+1) ^k . Dedicated to Paul Erdős on his seventieth birthday Research supported in part by the National Science Foundation under ISP-80-11451.     

Positional Games and the Second Moment Method

Dedicated to the memory of Paul Erdős We study the fair Maker–Breaker graph Ramsey game MB(n;q). The board is , the players alternately occupy one edge a move, and Maker wants a clique of his own. We show that Maker has a winning strategy in MB(n;q) if , which is exactly the clique number of the random graph on n vertices with edge-probability 1/2. Due to an old theorem of Erdős and Selfridge this is best possible apart from an additive constant. Received March 28, 2000     

A class of constructions for turán’s (3, 4)-problem

Letf(n) denote the minimal number of edges of a 3-uniform hypergraphG=(V, E) onn vertices such that for every quadrupleY ⊂V there existsY ⊃e ∈E. Turán conjectured thatf(3k)=k(k−1)(2k−1). We prove that if Turán’s conjecture is correct then there exist at least 2 ^k−2 non-isomorphic extremal hypergraphs on 3k vertices.     

On disjointly representable sets

A system of setsE ₁,E ₂, ...,E _k ⊂X is said to be disjointly representable if there existx ₁,x ₂, ...,x _k teX such thatx _i teE _j ⇔i=j. Letf(r, k) denote the maximal size of anr-uniform set-system containing nok disjointly representable members. In the first section the exact value off(r, 3) is determined and (asymptotically sharp) bounds onf(r, k),k>3 are established. The last two sections contain some generalizations, in particular we prove an analogue of Sauer’ theorem [16] for uniform set-systems. Dedicated to Paul Erdős on his seventieth birthday     

Uniform Families and Count Matroids

Given an r-graph G on [n], we are allowed to add consecutively new edges to it provided that every time a new r-graph with at least l edges and at most m vertices appears. Suppose we have been able to add all edges. What is the minimal number of edges in the original graph? For all values of parameters, we present an example of G which we conjecture to be extremal and establish the validity of our conjecture for a range of parameters. Our proof utilises count matroids which is a new family of matroids naturally extending that of White and Whiteley. We characterise, in certain cases, the extremal graphs. In particular, we answer a question by Erdős, Füredi and Tuza. Received: May 6, 1998 Final version received: September 1, 1999     

Edge-colored complete graphs with precisely colored subgraphs

Letf(s, t; k) be the largest value ofm such that it is possible tok-color the edges of the complete graphK _m so that everyK _s ⊆K _m has exactlyt colors occuring on its edges. The main object of this paper is to describe the behavior of the functionf(s,t;k), usually thinking ofs andt fixed, and lettingk become large. Dedicated to Paul Erdős on his seventieth birthday     

The Erdős–Pósa Property for Odd Cycles in Highly Connected Graphs

Dedicated to the memory of Paul Erdős In [9] Thomassen proved that a -connected graph either contains k vertex disjoint odd cycles or an odd cycle cover containing at most 2k-2 vertices, i.e. he showed that the Erdős–Pósa property holds for odd cycles in highly connected graphs. In this paper, we will show that the above statement is still valid for 576k-connected graphs which is essentially best possible. Received November 17, 1999 RID="*" ID="*" This work was supported by a post-doctoral DONET grant. RID="†" ID="†" This work was supported by an NSF-CNRS collaborative research grant. RID="‡" ID="‡" This work was performed while both authors were visiting the LIRMM, Université de Montpellier II, France.     

A weaker version of Lovász' path removal conjecture

We prove there exists a function f(k) such that for every f(k)-connected graph G and for every edge eE(G), there exists an induced cycle C containing e such that G−E(C) is k-connected. This proves a weakening of a conjecture of Lovász due to Kriesell.     

Nearly bipartite graphs with large chromatic number

P. Erdős and A. Hajnal asked the following question. Does there exist a constant ε>0 with the following property: If every subgraphH of a graphG can be made bipartite by the omission of at most ε|H| edges where |H| denotes the number of vertices ofH thenx(H) ≦ 3. The aim of this note is to give a negative answer to this question and consider the analogous problem for hypergraphs. The first was done also by L. Lovász who used a different construction.     

Sparse ramsey graphs

IfH is a Ramsey graph for a graphG thenH is rich in copies of the graphG. Here we prove theorems in the opposite direction. We find examples ofH such that copies ofG do not form short cycles inH. This provides a strenghtening also, of the following well-known result of Erdős: there exist graphs with high chromatic number and no short cycles. In particular, we solve a problem of J. Spencer. Dedicated to Paul Erdős on his seventieth birthday