Graphs with induced-saturation number zero

TL;DR

This paper investigates the induced saturation number of graphs, showing it is zero for many common graphs, and introduces a new parameter to measure minimal edges in such graphs, providing bounds and exact values for specific cases.

Contribution

The paper proves that the induced saturation number is zero for many graphs and introduces the parameter indsat*(n;H), with bounds and exact values for specific graphs.

Findings

Induced saturation number is zero for many common graphs.

Introduces the parameter indsat*(n;H) for graphs.

Provides bounds and exact values for indsat*(n;H) for specific graphs.

Abstract

Given graphs $G$ and $H$, $G$ is $H$-saturated if $H$ is not a subgraph of $G$, but for all $e \notin E(G)$, $H$ appears as a subgraph of $G + e$. While for every $n \ge |V(H)|$, there exists an $n$-vertex graph that is $H$-saturated, the same does not hold for induced subgraphs. That is, there exist graphs $H$ and values of $n \ge |V(H)|$ for which every $n$-vertex graph $G$ either contains $H$ as an induced subgraph, or there exists $e \notin E(G)$ such that $G + e$ does not contain $H$ as an induced subgraph. To circumvent this, Martin and Smith make use of trigraphs when introducing the concept of induced saturation and the induced saturation number of graphs. This allows for edges that can be included or excluded when searching for an induced copy of H, and the induced saturation number is the minimum number of such edges that are required. In this paper, we show that the induced saturation number of many common graphs is zero. Consequently, this yields graphs, instead of trigraphs, that are H-induced-saturated. We introduce a new parameter for such graphs, indsat*(n;H), which is the minimum number of edges in an H-induced-saturated graph on n vertices. We provide bounds on indsat*(n;H) for many graphs. In particular, we determine indsat*(n;paw) completely, and indsat*(n;$K_{1,3}$) for infinitely many n.