On a problem of Erd\H{o}s and Rothschild on edges in triangles

TL;DR

This paper investigates a problem posed by Erdős and Rothschild regarding the minimum number of triangles an edge must belong to in dense graphs, providing bounds that answer a long-standing question.

Contribution

The authors establish an upper bound on H(N,C) for fixed C<1/4, showing it grows as N^{O(1/log log N)}, thus resolving a question about triangle-rich edges in dense graphs.

Findings

H(N,C) = N^{O(1/log log N)} for C<1/4

Negative answer to Erdős's question on triangle edges

Bounds are tight up to known extremal examples

Abstract

Erd\H{o}s and Rothschild asked to estimate the maximum number, denoted by H(N,C), such that every N-vertex graph with at least CN^2 edges, each of which is contained in at least one triangle, must contain an edge that is in at least H(N,C) triangles. In particular, Erd\H{o}s asked in 1987 to determine whether for every C>0 there is \epsilon >0 such that H(N,C) > N^\epsilon, for all sufficiently large N. We prove that H(N,C) = N^{O(1/log log N)} for every fixed C < 1/4. This gives a negative answer to the question of Erd\H{o}s, and is best possible in terms of the range for C, as it is known that every N-vertex graph with more than (N^2)/4 edges contains an edge that is in at least N/6 triangles.