Large Cliques in -Free Graphs

Dedicated to the memory of Paul Erdős A graph is called -free if it contains no cycle of length four as an induced subgraph. We prove that if a -free graph has n vertices and at least edges then it has a complete subgraph of vertices, where depends only on . We also give estimates on and show that a similar result does not hold for H-free graphs––unless H is an induced subgraph of . The best value of is determined for chordal graphs. Received October 25, 1999 RID="*" ID="*" Supported by OTKA grant T029074. RID="**" ID="**" Supported by TKI grant stochastics@TUB and by OTKA grant T026203.     

Size Ramsey Numbers of Stars Versus 3-chromatic Graphs

  Let be the star with n edges, be the triangle, and be the family of odd cycles. We establish the following bounds on the corresponding size Ramsey numbers.

Perfect Graphs, Partitionable Graphs and Cutsets

We prove a theorem about cutsets in partitionable graphs that generalizes earlier results on amalgams, 2-amalgams and homogeneous pairs. Received December 13, 1999 RID="*" ID="*" This work was supported in part by the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, Toronto, Canada, and by NSF grants DMI-0098427 and DMI-9802773 and ONR grant N00014-97-1-0196.     

Homomorphisms of Products of Graphs into Graphs Without Four Cycles

Given two graphs A and G, we write if there is a homomorphism of A to G and if there is no such homomorphism. The graph G is -free if, whenever both a and c are adjacent to b and d, then a = c or b = d. We will prove that if A and B are connected graphs, each containing a triangle and if G is a -free graph with and , then (here " denotes the categorical product). Received August 31, 1998/Revised April 19, 2000 RID="†" ID="†" Supported by NSERC of Canada Grant #691325.     

Exact Bounds for Judicious Partitions of Graphs

has a bipartite subgraph of size at least . We show that every graph of size has a bipartition in which the Edwards bound holds, and in addition each vertex class contains at most edges. This is exact for complete graphs of odd order, which we show are the only extremal graphs without isolated vertices. We also give results for partitions into more than two classes. Received: December 27, 1996/Revised: Revised June 10, 1998     

Totally Odd -subdivisions in 4-chromatic Graphs

We prove the conjecture made by Bjarne Toft in 1975 that every 4-chromatic graph contains a subdivision of in which each edge of corresponds to a path of odd length. As an auxiliary result we characterize completely the subspace of the cycle space generated by all cycles through two fixed edges. Toft's conjecture was proved independently in 1995 by Wenan Zang. Received May 26, 1998     

Topological Subgraphs in Graphs of Large Girth

H of maximum degree , there is an integer g(H) such that every finite graph of minimum degree n and girth at least g(H) contains a subdivision of H. This had been conjectured for in [8]. We prove also that every finite 2n-connected graph of sufficiently large girth is n-linked, and this is best possible for all . Received: February 26, 1997     

Subdivisions of a Graph of Maximal Degree n + 1 in Graphs of Average Degree and Large Girth

Dedicated to the memory of Paul Erdős It is proved that for every finite graph H of maximal degree and every , there is an integer such that every finite graph of average degree at least and of girth at least contains a subdivision of H. Received May 5, 1999     

Connected [a,b]-factors in Graphs

In this paper, we prove the following result: Let G be a connected graph of order n, and minimum degree . Let a and b two integers such that 2a <= b. Suppose and . Then G has a connected [a,b]-factor. Received February 10, 1998/Revised July 31, 2000     

Hamiltonian Kneser Graphs

The Kneser graph K(n,k) has as vertices the k-subsets of {1, 2, ..., n}. Two vertices are adjacent if the corresponding k-subsets are disjoint. It was recently proved by the first author [2] that Kneser graphs have Hamilton cycles for n >= 3k. In this note, we give a short proof for the case when k divides n. Received September 14, 1999     

Ramsey Numbers for Trees of Small Maximum Degree

For a tree T we write and , , for the sizes of the vertex classes of T as a bipartite graph. It is shown that for T with maximum degree , the obvious lower bound for the Ramsey number R(T,T) of is asymptotically the correct value for R(T,T). Received December 15, 1999 RID=" " ID=" " The first and third authors were partially supported by NSERC. The second author was partially supported by KBN grant 2 P03A 021 17.     

Integer and Fractional Packings in Dense Graphs

Let be any fixed graph. For a graph G we define to be the maximum size of a set of pairwise edge-disjoint copies of in G. We say a function from the set of copies of in G to [0, 1] is a fractional -packing of G if for every edge e of G. Then is defined to be the maximum value of over all fractional -packings of G. We show that for all graphs G. Received July 27, 1998 / Revised December 3, 1999     

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     

Vertex-Disjoint Triangles in Claw-Free Graphs with Minimum Degree at Least Three

. Our main result is as follows: For any integer , if G is a claw-free graph of order at least and with minimum degree at least 3, then G contains k vertex-disjoint triangles unless G is of order and G belongs to a known class of graphs. We also construct a claw-free graph with minimum degree 3 on n vertices for each such that it does not contain k vertex-disjoint triangles. We put forward a conjecture on vertex-disjoint triangles in -free graphs. Received: November 21, 1996/Revised: Revised February 19, 1998     

A Minimum Degree Result for Disjoint Cycles and Forests in Graphs

F on s edges and k disjoint cycles. The main result is the following theorem. Let F be a forest on s edges without isolated vertices and let G be a graph of order at least with minimum degree at least , where k, s are nonnegative integers. Then G contains the disjoint union of the forest F and k disjoint cycles. This theorem provides a common generalization of previous results of Corrádi & Hajnal [4] and Brandt [3] who considered the cases (cycles only) and (forests only), respectively. Received: October 13, 1995     

Bicliques in Graphs I: Bounds on Their Number

Bicliques are inclusion-maximal induced complete bipartite subgraphs in graphs. Upper bounds on the number of bicliques in bipartite graphs and general graphs are given. Then those classes of graphs where the number of bicliques is polynomial in the vertex number are characterized, provided the class is closed under induced subgraphs. Received January 27, 1997     

The Distance-regular Graphs with Intersection Number and with an Eigenvalue

and with an eigenvalue . Received: October 2, 1995/Revised: Revised November 26, 1997     

Primal-Dual Approximation Algorithms for Feedback Problems in Planar Graphs

Received: August 22, 1996     

Optimal Edge-Colourings for a Class of Planar Multigraphs

  Let G be a multigraph containing no minor isomorphic to or (where denotes without one of its edges). We show that the chromatic index of G is given by , where is the maximum valency of G and is defined as