Counting paths, cycles and blow-ups in planar graphs

TL;DR

This paper determines the maximum number of certain paths, cycles, and subdivisions in large planar graphs, providing exact asymptotics and improved bounds using a novel optimization approach.

Contribution

It introduces a new technique to bound the number of copies of various graphs in planar graphs via optimization over weighted graphs, with exact asymptotics for several cases.

Findings

Exact asymptotics for paths, cycles, and subdivisions in planar graphs.

Improved upper bounds for counts of longer paths and even cycles.

A general method linking graph counts to optimization problems over weighted graphs.

Abstract

For a planar graph $H$, let $\operatorname{\mathbf{N}}_{\mathcal P}(n,H)$ denote the maximum number of copies of $H$ in an $n$-vertex planar graph. In this paper, we prove that $\operatorname{\mathbf{N}}_{\mathcal P}(n,P_7)\sim{4\over 27}n^4$, $\operatorname{\mathbf{N}}_{\mathcal P}(n,C_6)\sim(n/3)^3$, $\operatorname{\mathbf{N}}_{\mathcal P}(n,C_8)\sim(n/4)^4$ and $\operatorname{\mathbf{N}}_{\mathcal P}(n,K_4\{1\})\sim(n/6)^6$, where $K_4\{1\}$ is the $1$-subdivision of $K_4$. In addition, we obtain significantly improved upper bounds on $\operatorname{\mathbf{N}}_{\mathcal P}(n,P_{2m+1})$ and $\operatorname{\mathbf{N}}_{\mathcal P}(n,C_{2m})$ for $m\geq 4$. For a wide class of graphs $H$, the key technique developed in this paper allows us to bound $\operatorname{\mathbf{N}}_{\mathcal P}(n,H)$ in terms of an optimization problem over weighted graphs.