Dense Subgraphs in Random Graphs

For a constant $\gamma \in[0,1]$ and a graph $G$, let $\omega_{\gamma}(G)$ be the largest integer $k$ for which there exists a $k$-vertex subgraph of $G$ with at least $\gamma\binom{k}{2}$ edges. We show that if $0<p<\gamma<1$ then $\omega_{\gamma}(G_{n,p})$ is concentrated on a set of two integers. More precisely, with $\alpha(\gamma,p)=\gamma\log\frac{\gamma}{p}+(1-\gamma)\log\frac{1-\gamma}{1-p}$, we show that $\omega_{\gamma}(G_{n,p})$ is one of the two integers closest to $\frac{2}{\alpha(\gamma,p)}\big(\log n-\log\log n+\log\frac{e\alpha(\gamma,p)}{2}\big)+\frac{1}{2}$, with high probability. While this situation parallels that of cliques in random graphs, a new technique is required to handle the more complicated ways in which these "quasi-cliques" may overlap

Finding Connected Dense kk-Subgraphs

Given a connected graph $G$ on $n$ vertices and a positive integer $k\le n$, a subgraph of $G$ on $k$ vertices is called a $k$-subgraph in $G$. We design combinatorial approximation algorithms for finding a connected $k$-subgraph in $G$ such that its density is at least a factor $\Omega(\max\{n^{-2/5},k^2/n^2\})$ of the density of the densest $k$-subgraph in $G$ (which is not necessarily connected). These particularly provide the first non-trivial approximations for the densest connected $k$-subgraph problem on general graphs

Finding cliques and dense subgraphs using edge queries

We consider the problem of finding a large clique in an Erd\H{o}s--R\'enyi random graph where we are allowed unbounded computational time but can only query a limited number of edges. Recall that the largest clique in $G \sim G(n,1/2)$ has size roughly $2\log_{2} n$. Let $\alpha_{\star}(\delta,\ell)$ be the supremum over $\alpha$ such that there exists an algorithm that makes $n^{\delta}$ queries in total to the adjacency matrix of $G$, in a constant $\ell$ number of rounds, and outputs a clique of size $\alpha \log_{2} n$ with high probability. We give improved upper bounds on $\alpha_{\star}(\delta,\ell)$ for every $\delta \in [1,2)$ and $\ell \geq 3$. We also study analogous questions for finding subgraphs with density at least $\eta$ for a given $\eta$, and prove corresponding impossibility results.Comment: 19 pp, 5 figures, Focused Workshop on Networks and Their Limits held at the Erd\H{o}s Center, Budapest, Hungary in July 202

Small rainbow cliques in randomly perturbed dense graphs

For two graphs $G$ and $H$, write $G \stackrel{\mathrm{rbw}}{\longrightarrow} H$ if $G$ has the property that every \emph{proper} colouring of its edges yields a \emph{rainbow} copy of $H$. We study the thresholds for such so-called \emph{anti-Ramsey} properties in randomly perturbed dense graphs, which are unions of the form $G \cup \mathbb{G}(n,p)$, where $G$ is an $n$-vertex graph with edge-density at least $d >0$, and $d$ is independent of $n$. In a companion article, we proved that the threshold for the property $G \cup \mathbb{G}(n,p) \stackrel{\mathrm{rbw}}{\longrightarrow} K_\ell$ is $n^{-1/m_2(K_{\left\lceil \ell/2 \right\rceil})}$, whenever $\ell \geq 9$. For smaller $\ell$, the thresholds behave more erratically, and for $4 \le \ell \le 7$ they deviate downwards significantly from the aforementioned aesthetic form capturing the thresholds for \emph{large} cliques. In particular, we show that the thresholds for $\ell \in \{4, 5, 7\}$ are $n^{-5/4}$, $n^{-1}$, and $n^{-7/15}$, respectively. For $\ell \in \{6, 8\}$ we determine the threshold up to a $(1 + o(1))$-factor in the exponent: they are $n^{-(2/3 + o(1))}$ and $n^{-(2/5 + o(1))}$, respectively. For $\ell = 3$, the threshold is $n^{-2}$; this follows from a more general result about odd cycles in our companion paper.Comment: 37 pages, several figures; update following reviewer(s) comment