In extremal graph theory, the forbidden subgraph problem is the following problem: given a graph G {\displaystyle G} , find the maximal number of edges ex ( n , G ) {\displaystyle \operatorname {ex} (n,G)} an n {\displaystyle n} -vertex graph can have such that it does not have a subgraph isomorphic to G {\displaystyle G} . In this context, G {\displaystyle G} is called a forbidden subgraph.[1]
An equivalent problem is how many edges in an n {\displaystyle n} -vertex graph guarantee that it has a subgraph isomorphic to G {\displaystyle G} ?[2]
The extremal number ex ( n , G ) {\displaystyle \operatorname {ex} (n,G)} is the maximum number of edges in an n {\displaystyle n} -vertex graph containing no subgraph isomorphic to G {\displaystyle G} . K r {\displaystyle K_{r}} is the complete graph on r {\displaystyle r} vertices. T ( n , r ) {\displaystyle T(n,r)} is the Turán graph: a complete r {\displaystyle r} -partite graph on n {\displaystyle n} vertices, with vertices distributed between parts as equally as possible. The chromatic number χ ( G ) {\displaystyle \chi (G)} of G {\displaystyle G} is the minimum number of colors needed to color the vertices of G {\displaystyle G} such that no two adjacent vertices have the same color.
Turán's theorem states that for positive integers n , r {\displaystyle n,r} satisfying n ≥ r ≥ 3 {\displaystyle n\geq r\geq 3} ,[3] ex ( n , K r ) = ( 1 − 1 r − 1 + o ( 1 ) ) n 2 2 . {\textstyle \operatorname {ex} (n,K_{r})=\left(1-{\frac {1}{r-1}}+o(1)\right){\frac {n^{2}}{2}}.}
This solves the forbidden subgraph problem for G = K r {\displaystyle G=K_{r}} . Equality cases for Turán's theorem come from the Turán graph T ( n , r − 1 ) {\displaystyle T(n,r-1)} .
This result can be generalized to arbitrary graphs G {\displaystyle G} by considering the chromatic number χ ( G ) {\displaystyle \chi (G)} of G {\displaystyle G} . Note that T ( n , r ) {\displaystyle T(n,r)} can be colored with r {\displaystyle r} colors and thus has no subgraphs with chromatic number greater than r {\displaystyle r} . In particular, T ( n , χ ( G ) − 1 ) {\displaystyle T(n,\chi (G)-1)} has no subgraphs isomorphic to G {\displaystyle G} . This suggests that the general equality cases for the forbidden subgraph problem may be related to the equality cases for G = K r {\displaystyle G=K_{r}} . This intuition turns out to be correct, up to o ( n 2 ) {\displaystyle o(n^{2})} error.
Erdős–Stone theorem states that for all positive integers n {\displaystyle n} and all graphs G {\displaystyle G} ,[4] ex ( n , G ) = ( 1 − 1 χ ( G ) − 1 + o ( 1 ) ) ( n 2 ) . {\textstyle \operatorname {ex} (n,G)=\left(1-{\frac {1}{\chi (G)-1}}+o(1)\right){\binom {n}{2}}.}
When G {\displaystyle G} is not bipartite, this gives us a first-order approximation of ex ( n , G ) {\displaystyle \operatorname {ex} (n,G)} .
For bipartite graphs G {\displaystyle G} , the Erdős–Stone theorem only tells us that ex ( n , G ) = o ( n 2 ) {\displaystyle \operatorname {ex} (n,G)=o(n^{2})} . The forbidden subgraph problem for bipartite graphs is known as the Zarankiewicz problem, and it is unsolved in general.
Progress on the Zarankiewicz problem includes following theorem:
Another result for bipartite graphs is the case of even cycles, G = C 2 k , k ≥ 2 {\displaystyle G=C_{2k},k\geq 2} . Even cycles are handled by considering a root vertex and paths branching out from this vertex. If two paths of the same length k {\displaystyle k} have the same endpoint and do not overlap, then they create a cycle of length 2 k {\displaystyle 2k} . This gives the following theorem.
A powerful lemma in extremal graph theory is dependent random choice. This lemma allows us to handle bipartite graphs with bounded degree in one part:
In general, we have the following conjecture.:
A survey by Füredi and Simonovits describes progress on the forbidden subgraph problem in more detail.[8]
There are various techniques used for obtaining the lower bounds.
While this method mostly gives weak bounds, the theory of random graphs is a rapidly developing subject. It is based on the idea that if we take a graph randomly with a sufficiently small density, the graph would contain only a small number of subgraphs of G {\displaystyle G} inside it. These copies can be removed by removing one edge from every copy of G {\displaystyle G} in the graph, giving us a G {\displaystyle G} free graph.
The probabilistic method can be used to prove ex ( n , G ) ≥ c n 2 − v ( G ) − 2 e ( G ) − 1 {\displaystyle \operatorname {ex} (n,G)\geq cn^{2-{\frac {v(G)-2}{e(G)-1}}}} where c {\displaystyle c} is a constant only depending on the graph G {\displaystyle G} .[9] For the construction we can take the Erdős-Rényi random graph G ( n , p ) {\displaystyle G(n,p)} , that is the graph with n {\displaystyle n} vertices and the edge been any two vertices drawn with probability p {\displaystyle p} , independently. After computing the expected number of copies of G {\displaystyle G} in G ( n , p ) {\displaystyle G(n,p)} by linearity of expectation, we remove one edge from each such copy of G {\displaystyle G} and we are left with a G {\displaystyle G} -free graph in the end. The expected number of edges remaining can be found to be ex ( n , G ) ≥ c n 2 − v ( G ) − 2 e ( G ) − 1 {\displaystyle \operatorname {ex} (n,G)\geq cn^{2-{\frac {v(G)-2}{e(G)-1}}}} for a constant c {\displaystyle c} depending on G {\displaystyle G} . Therefore, at least one n {\displaystyle n} -vertex graph exists with at least as many edges as the expected number.
This method can also be used to find the constructions of a graph for bounds on the girth of the graph. The girth, denoted by g ( G ) {\displaystyle g(G)} , is the length of the shortest cycle of the graph. Note that for g ( G ) > 2 k {\displaystyle g(G)>2k} , the graph must forbid all the cycles with length less than equal to 2 k {\displaystyle 2k} . By linearity of expectation,the expected number of such forbidden cycles is equal to the sum of the expected number of cycles C i {\displaystyle C_{i}} (for i = 3 , . . . , n − 1 , n {\displaystyle i=3,...,n-1,n} .). We again remove the edges from each copy of a forbidden graph and end up with a graph free of smaller cycles and g ( G ) > 2 k {\displaystyle g(G)>2k} , giving us c 0 n 1 + 1 2 k − 1 {\displaystyle c_{0}n^{1+{\frac {1}{2k-1}}}} edges in the graph left.
For specific cases, improvements have been made by finding algebraic constructions. A common feature for such constructions is that it involves the use of geometry to construct a graph, with vertices representing geometric objects and edges according to the algebraic relations between the vertices. We end up with no subgraph of G {\displaystyle G} , purely due to purely geometric reasons, while the graph has a large number of edges to be a strong bound due to way the incidences were defined. The following proof by Erdős, Rényi, and Sős[10] establishing the lower bound on ex ( n , K 2 , 2 ) {\displaystyle \operatorname {ex} (n,K_{2,2})} as ( 1 2 − o ( 1 ) ) n 3 / 2 . {\displaystyle \left({\frac {1}{2}}-o(1)\right)n^{3/2}.} , demonstrates the power of this method.
First, suppose that n = p 2 − 1 {\displaystyle n=p^{2}-1} for some prime p {\displaystyle p} . Consider the polarity graph G {\displaystyle G} with vertices elements of F p 2 − { 0 , 0 } {\displaystyle \mathbb {F} _{p}^{2}-\{0,0\}} and edges between vertices ( x , y ) {\displaystyle (x,y)} and ( a , b ) {\displaystyle (a,b)} if and only if a x + b y = 1 {\displaystyle ax+by=1} in F p {\displaystyle \mathbb {F} _{p}} . This graph is K 2 , 2 {\displaystyle K_{2,2}} -free because a system of two linear equations in F p {\displaystyle \mathbb {F} _{p}} cannot have more than one solution. A vertex ( a , b ) {\displaystyle (a,b)} (assume b ≠ 0 {\displaystyle b\neq 0} ) is connected to ( x , 1 − a x b ) {\displaystyle \left(x,{\frac {1-ax}{b}}\right)} for any x ∈ F p {\displaystyle x\in \mathbb {F} _{p}} , for a total of at least p − 1 {\displaystyle p-1} edges (subtracted 1 in case ( a , b ) = ( x , 1 − a x b ) {\displaystyle (a,b)=\left(x,{\frac {1-ax}{b}}\right)} ). So there are at least 1 2 ( p 2 − 1 ) ( p − 1 ) = ( 1 2 − o ( 1 ) ) p 3 = ( 1 2 − o ( 1 ) ) n 3 / 2 {\displaystyle {\frac {1}{2}}(p^{2}-1)(p-1)=\left({\frac {1}{2}}-o(1)\right)p^{3}=\left({\frac {1}{2}}-o(1)\right)n^{3/2}} edges, as desired. For general n {\displaystyle n} , we can take p = ( 1 − o ( 1 ) ) n {\displaystyle p=(1-o(1)){\sqrt {n}}} with p ≤ n + 1 {\displaystyle p\leq {\sqrt {n+1}}} (which is possible because there exists a prime p {\displaystyle p} in the interval [ k − k 0.525 , k ] {\displaystyle [k-k^{0.525},k]} for sufficiently large k {\displaystyle k} [11]) and construct a polarity graph using such p {\displaystyle p} , then adding n − p 2 + 1 {\displaystyle n-p^{2}+1} isolated vertices, which do not affect the asymptotic value.
The following theorem is a similar result for K 3 , 3 {\displaystyle K_{3,3}} .
However, it remains an open question to tighten the lower bound for ex ( n , K t , t ) {\displaystyle \operatorname {ex} (n,K_{t,t})} for t ≥ 4 {\displaystyle t\geq 4} .
This technique combines the above two ideas. It uses random polynomial type relations when defining the incidences between vertices, which are in some algebraic set. Using this technique to prove the following theorem.
Theorem: For every s ≥ 2 {\displaystyle s\geq 2} , there exists some t {\displaystyle t} such that ex ( n , K s , t ) ≥ ( 1 2 − o ( 1 ) ) n 2 − 1 s {\displaystyle \operatorname {ex} (n,K_{s,t})\geq \left({\frac {1}{2}}-o(1)\right)n^{2-{\frac {1}{s}}}} .
Proof outline: We take the largest prime power q {\displaystyle q} with q s ≤ n {\displaystyle q^{s}\leq n} . Due to the prime gaps, we have q = ( 1 − o ( 1 ) ) n 1 s {\displaystyle q=(1-o(1))n^{\frac {1}{s}}} . Let f ∈ F q [ x 1 , x 2 , ⋯ , x s , y 1 , y 2 , ⋯ , y s ] ≤ d {\displaystyle f\in \mathbb {F} _{q}[x_{1},x_{2},\cdots ,x_{s},y_{1},y_{2},\cdots ,y_{s}]_{\leq d}} be a random polynomial in F q {\displaystyle \mathbb {F} _{q}} with degree at most d = s 2 {\displaystyle d=s^{2}} in X = ( X 1 , X 2 , . . . , X s ) {\displaystyle X=(X_{1},X_{2},...,X_{s})} and Y = ( Y 1 , Y 2 , . . . , Y s ) {\displaystyle Y=(Y_{1},Y_{2},...,Y_{s})} and satisfying f ( X , Y ) = f ( Y , X ) {\displaystyle f(X,Y)=f(Y,X)} . Let the graph G {\displaystyle G} have the vertex set F q s {\displaystyle \mathbb {F} _{q}^{s}} such that two vertices x , y {\displaystyle x,y} are adjacent if f ( x , y ) = 0 {\displaystyle f(x,y)=0} .
We fix a set U ⊂ F q s {\displaystyle U\subset \mathbb {F} _{q}^{s}} , and defining a set Z U {\displaystyle Z_{U}} as the elements of F q s {\displaystyle \mathbb {F} _{q}^{s}} not in U {\displaystyle U} satisfying f ( x , u ) = 0 {\displaystyle f(x,u)=0} for all elements u ∈ U {\displaystyle u\in U} . By the Lang–Weil bound, we obtain that for q {\displaystyle q} sufficiently large enough, we have | Z U | ≤ C {\displaystyle |Z_{U}|\leq C} or | Z U | > q 2 {\displaystyle |Z_{U}|>{\frac {q}{2}}} for some constant C {\displaystyle C} .Now, we compute the expected number of U {\displaystyle U} such that Z U {\displaystyle Z_{U}} has size greater than C {\displaystyle C} , and remove a vertex from each such U {\displaystyle U} . The resulting graph turns out to be K s , C + 1 {\displaystyle K_{s,C+1}} free, and at least one graph exists with the expectation of the number of edges of this resulting graph.
Supersaturation refers to a variant of the forbidden subgraph problem, where we consider when some h {\displaystyle h} -uniform graph G {\displaystyle G} contains many copies of some forbidden subgraph H {\displaystyle H} . Intuitively, one would expect this to once G {\displaystyle G} contains significantly more than ex ( n , H ) {\displaystyle \operatorname {ex} (n,H)} edges. We introduce Turán density to formalize this notion.
The Turán density of a h {\displaystyle h} -uniform graph G {\displaystyle G} is defined to be
It is true that ex ( n , G ) ( n h ) {\displaystyle {\frac {\operatorname {ex} (n,G)}{\binom {n}{h}}}} is in fact positive and monotone decreasing, so the limit must therefore exist. [15]
As an example, Turán's Theorem gives that π ( K r + 1 ) = 1 − 1 r {\displaystyle \pi (K_{r+1})=1-{\frac {1}{r}}} , and the Erdős–Stone theorem gives that π ( G ) = 1 − 1 χ ( H ) − 1 {\displaystyle \pi (G)=1-{\frac {1}{\chi (H)-1}}} . In particular, for bipartite G {\displaystyle G} , π ( G ) = 0 {\displaystyle \pi (G)=0} . Determining the Turán density π ( H ) {\displaystyle \pi (H)} is equivalent to determining ex ( n , G ) {\displaystyle \operatorname {ex} (n,G)} up to an o ( n 2 ) {\displaystyle o(n^{2})} error.[16]
Consider an h {\displaystyle h} -uniform hypergraph H {\displaystyle H} with v ( H ) {\displaystyle v(H)} vertices. The supersaturation theorem states that for every ϵ > 0 {\displaystyle \epsilon >0} , there exists a δ > 0 {\displaystyle \delta >0} such that if G {\displaystyle G} is an h {\displaystyle h} -uniform hypergraph on n {\displaystyle n} vertices and at least ( π ( H ) + ϵ ) ( n h ) {\displaystyle (\pi (H)+\epsilon ){\binom {n}{h}}} edges for n {\displaystyle n} sufficiently large, then there are at least δ n v ( H ) {\displaystyle \delta n^{v(H)}} copies of H {\displaystyle H} . [17]
Equivalently, we can restate this theorem as the following: If a graph G {\displaystyle G} with n {\displaystyle n} vertices has o ( n v ( H ) ) {\displaystyle o(n^{v(H)})} copies of H {\displaystyle H} , then there are at most π ( H ) ( n 2 ) + o ( n 2 ) {\displaystyle \pi (H){\binom {n}{2}}+o(n^{2})} edges in G {\displaystyle G} .
We may solve various forbidden subgraph problems by considering supersaturation-type problems. We restate and give a proof sketch of the Kővári–Sós–Turán theorem below:
In this proof, we are using the supersaturation method by considering the number of occurrences of a smaller subgraph. Typically, applications of the supersaturation method do not use the supersaturation theorem. Instead, the structure often involves finding a subgraph H ′ {\displaystyle H'} of some forbidden subgraph H {\displaystyle H} and showing that if it appears too many times in G {\displaystyle G} , then H {\displaystyle H} must appear in G {\displaystyle G} as well. Other theorems regarding the forbidden subgraph problem which can be solved with supersaturation include:
The problem may be generalized for a set of forbidden subgraphs S {\displaystyle S} : find the maximal number of edges in an n {\displaystyle n} -vertex graph which does not have a subgraph isomorphic to any graph from S {\displaystyle S} .[21]
There are also hypergraph versions of forbidden subgraph problems that are much more difficult. For instance, Turán's problem may be generalized to asking for the largest number of edges in an n {\displaystyle n} -vertex 3-uniform hypergraph that contains no tetrahedra. The analog of the Turán construction would be to partition the vertices into almost equal subsets V 1 , V 2 , V 3 {\displaystyle V_{1},V_{2},V_{3}} , and connect vertices x , y , z {\displaystyle x,y,z} by a 3-edge if they are all in different V i {\displaystyle V_{i}} s, or if two of them are in V i {\displaystyle V_{i}} and the third is in V i + 1 {\displaystyle V_{i+1}} (where V 4 = V 1 {\displaystyle V_{4}=V_{1}} ). This is tetrahedron-free, and the edge density is 5 / 9 {\displaystyle 5/9} . However, the best known upper bound is 0.562, using the technique of flag algebras.[22]