Large 2P3-free graphs with bounded degree

Let ex^* (D;H) be the maximum number of edges in a connected graph with maximum degree D and no induced subgraph H; this is finite if and only if H is a disjoint union of paths. If the largest component of such an H has order m, then ex^*(D; H) = O(D²ex^*(D; P_m)). Constructively, ex^*(D;qP_m) = Θ(gD²ex^*(D;P_m)) if q>1 and m> 2(Θ(gD²) if m = 2). For H = 2P₃ (and D 8), the maximum number of edges is if D is even and

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if D is odd, achieved by a unique extremal graph.