THE DENSITY TURÁN PROBLEM

Let H be a graph on n vertices and let the blow-up graph G[H] be defined as follows. We replace each vertex vi of H by a cluster Ai and connect some pairs of vertices of Ai and Aj if (vi,vj) is an edge of the graph H. As usual, we define the edge density between Ai and Aj as d(Ai,Aj)= e(Ai,Aj)/|Ai||Aj|. We study the following problem. Given densities γij for each edge (i,j) ∈E(H), one has to decide whether there exists a blow-up graph G[H], with edge densities at least γij, such that one cannot choose a vertex from each cluster, so that the obtained graph is isomorphic to H, i.e., no H appears as a transversal in G[H]. We call dcrit(H) the maximal value for which there exists a blow-up graph G[H] with edge densities d(Ai,Aj)=d crit(H) ((vi,vj) ∈E(H)) not containing H in the above sense. Our main goal is to determine the critical edge density and to characterize the extremal graphs. First, in the case of tree T we give an efficient algorithm to decide whether a given set of edge densities ensures the existence of a transversal T in the blow-up graph. Then we give general bounds on dcrit(H) in terms of the maximal degree. In connection with the extremal structure, the so-called star decomposition is proved to give the best construction for H-transversal-free blow-up graphs for several graph classes. Our approach applies algebraic graph-theoretical, combinatorial and probabilistic tools. © 2012 Copyright Cambridge University Press

Supersaturation Problem for Color-Critical Graphs

The \emph{Tur\'an function} \ex(n,F) of a graph $F$ is the maximum number of edges in an $F$-free graph with $n$ vertices. The classical results of Tur\'an and Rademacher from 1941 led to the study of supersaturated graphs where the key question is to determine $h_F(n,q)$, the minimum number of copies of $F$ that a graph with $n$ vertices and \ex(n,F)+q edges can have. We determine $h_F(n,q)$ asymptotically when $F$ is \emph{color-critical} (that is, $F$ contains an edge whose deletion reduces its chromatic number) and $q=o(n^2)$. Determining the exact value of $h_F(n,q)$ seems rather difficult. For example, let $c_1$ be the limit superior of $q/n$ for which the extremal structures are obtained by adding some $q$ edges to a maximum $F$-free graph. The problem of determining $c_1$ for cliques was a well-known question of Erd\H os that was solved only decades later by Lov\'asz and Simonovits. Here we prove that $c_1>0$ for every {color-critical}~$F$. Our approach also allows us to determine $c_1$ for a number of graphs, including odd cycles, cliques with one edge removed, and complete bipartite graphs plus an edge.Comment: 27 pages, 2 figure

The Turán Density of Tight Cycles in Three-Uniform Hypergraphs

The Turán density of an $r$-uniform hypergraph ${\mathcal {H}}$, denoted $\pi ({\mathcal {H}})$, is the limit of the maximum density of an $n$-vertex $r$-uniform hypergraph not containing a copy of ${\mathcal {H}}$, as $n \to \infty$. Denote by ${\mathcal {C}}_{\ell }$ the $3$-uniform tight cycle on $\ell$ vertices. Mubayi and Rödl gave an “iterated blow-up” construction showing that the Turán density of ${\mathcal {C}}_{5}$ is at least $2\sqrt {3} - 3 \approx 0.464$, and this bound is conjectured to be tight. Their construction also does not contain ${\mathcal {C}}_{\ell }$ for larger $\ell$ not divisible by $3$, which suggests that it might be the extremal construction for these hypergraphs as well. Here, we determine the Turán density of ${\mathcal {C}}_{\ell }$ for all large $\ell$ not divisible by $3$, showing that indeed $\pi ({\mathcal {C}}_{\ell }) = 2\sqrt {3} - 3$. To our knowledge, this is the first example of a Turán density being determined where the extremal construction is an iterated blow-up construction. A key component in our proof, which may be of independent interest, is a $3$-uniform analogue of the statement “a graph is bipartite if and only if it does not contain an odd cycle”