On Existentially Complete Triangle-free Graphs

TL;DR

This paper proves that large triangle-free graphs cannot have the strong extension property for high values of k, providing a significant non-existence result in the study of such graphs.

Contribution

It establishes the first non-trivial upper bound on the extension property for triangle-free graphs, advancing understanding of their structural limitations.

Findings

No k-existentially complete triangle-free graphs exist for k > 8 log n / log log n

Provides the first significant non-existence result for this class of graphs

Breaks through a natural barrier in the problem's understanding

Abstract

For a positive integer $k$, we say that a graph is $k$-existentially complete if for every $0 \leq a \leq k$, and every tuple of distinct vertices $x_1,\ldots,x_a$, $y_1,\ldots,y_{k-a}$, there exists a vertex $z$ that is joined to all of the vertices $x_1,\ldots,x_a$ and none of the vertices $y_1,\ldots,y_{k-a}$. While it is easy to show that the binomial random graph $G_{n,1/2}$ satisfies this property with high probability for $k \sim c\log n$, little is known about the "triangle-free" version of this problem; does there exist a finite triangle-free graph $G$ with a similar "extension property". This question was first raised by Cherlin in 1993 and remains open even in the case $k=4$. We show that there are no $k$-existentially complete triangle-free graphs with $k >\frac{8\log n}{\log\log n}$, thus giving the first non-trivial, non-existence result on this "old chestnut" of Cherlin. We believe that this result breaks through a natural barrier in our understanding of the problem.