Lower bounds on the independence number of a graph in terms of degrees

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Harant, Jochen, Schiermeyer, Ingo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866909038735785984
author Harant, Jochen
Schiermeyer, Ingo
author_facet Harant, Jochen
Schiermeyer, Ingo
contents Given an integer $Δ\ge 3$, let ${\cal G}_{Δ}$ be the set of connected graphs $G\neq K_{Δ+1}$ with maximum degree $Δ$ and, for $i=1,\cdots, Δ$, let $V_i(G)$ be the set of vertices of $G$ of degree $i$. \\ We prove that $\sum\limits_{i=1}^Δc_i|V_i(G)|$ is a lower bound on the independence number $α(G)$ of $G\in {\cal G}_Δ$, where $c_Δ=\frac{1}Δ$ and $ic_{i}=1-c_{i+1}$ for $i=1,\cdots,Δ-1$. Moreover, if $\varepsilon >0$ and $j\in \{1,\cdots, Δ\}$, then the inequality $α(G)\ge \varepsilon|V_j(G)|+\sum\limits_{i=1}^Δc_i|V_i(G)|$ does not hold for infinitely many graphs $G\in {\cal G}_Δ$. We also show that an independent set $I\subset V(G)$ of $G\in {\cal G}_Δ$ such that $|I|\ge \sum\limits_{i=1}^Δc_i|V_i(G)|$ can be found in polynomial time.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_16326
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Lower bounds on the independence number of a graph in terms of degrees
Harant, Jochen
Schiermeyer, Ingo
Combinatorics
05C35, 05C69
Given an integer $Δ\ge 3$, let ${\cal G}_{Δ}$ be the set of connected graphs $G\neq K_{Δ+1}$ with maximum degree $Δ$ and, for $i=1,\cdots, Δ$, let $V_i(G)$ be the set of vertices of $G$ of degree $i$. \\ We prove that $\sum\limits_{i=1}^Δc_i|V_i(G)|$ is a lower bound on the independence number $α(G)$ of $G\in {\cal G}_Δ$, where $c_Δ=\frac{1}Δ$ and $ic_{i}=1-c_{i+1}$ for $i=1,\cdots,Δ-1$. Moreover, if $\varepsilon >0$ and $j\in \{1,\cdots, Δ\}$, then the inequality $α(G)\ge \varepsilon|V_j(G)|+\sum\limits_{i=1}^Δc_i|V_i(G)|$ does not hold for infinitely many graphs $G\in {\cal G}_Δ$. We also show that an independent set $I\subset V(G)$ of $G\in {\cal G}_Δ$ such that $|I|\ge \sum\limits_{i=1}^Δc_i|V_i(G)|$ can be found in polynomial time.
title Lower bounds on the independence number of a graph in terms of degrees
topic Combinatorics
05C35, 05C69
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.16326