The largest $K_r$-free set of vertices in a random graph

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Bohman, Tom, Michelen, Marcus, Mubayi, Dhruv
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Bohman, Tom
Michelen, Marcus
Mubayi, Dhruv
author_facet Bohman, Tom
Michelen, Marcus
Mubayi, Dhruv
contents For $r \ge 2$ and a graph $G$, let $α_{r}(G)$ be the maximum number of vertices in a $K_r$-free subgraph of $G$. We investigate the value $α_{r}(G)$ when $G$ is the random graph $G \sim G_{n, 1/2}$ and discover the following phenomenon: with high probability, $α_r(G)$ lies in an interval of constant length that varies in a non-monotonic fashion from $1$ to $\lfloor r/2\rfloor+1$ depending on the value of $n$. The special case $r=2$ corresponds to the independence number of random graphs which is well-known to have two-point concentration; our results therefore extend and generalize this basic fact in random graph theory, showing more complicated behavior when $r>2$. We also prove similar results where $K_r$ is replaced by any color critical graph like $C_5$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_16454
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The largest $K_r$-free set of vertices in a random graph
Bohman, Tom
Michelen, Marcus
Mubayi, Dhruv
Combinatorics
Probability
For $r \ge 2$ and a graph $G$, let $α_{r}(G)$ be the maximum number of vertices in a $K_r$-free subgraph of $G$. We investigate the value $α_{r}(G)$ when $G$ is the random graph $G \sim G_{n, 1/2}$ and discover the following phenomenon: with high probability, $α_r(G)$ lies in an interval of constant length that varies in a non-monotonic fashion from $1$ to $\lfloor r/2\rfloor+1$ depending on the value of $n$. The special case $r=2$ corresponds to the independence number of random graphs which is well-known to have two-point concentration; our results therefore extend and generalize this basic fact in random graph theory, showing more complicated behavior when $r>2$. We also prove similar results where $K_r$ is replaced by any color critical graph like $C_5$.
title The largest $K_r$-free set of vertices in a random graph
topic Combinatorics
Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.16454