Embedding clique subdivisions via crux

TL;DR

This paper proves Liu and Montgomery's conjecture that every graph contains a large clique subdivision proportional to its average degree and a parameter related to dense subgraphs.

Contribution

We confirm Liu and Montgomery's conjecture, establishing a link between dense subgraphs and large clique subdivisions in graphs.

Findings

Confirmed the conjecture for all graphs.

Established bounds relating dense subgraphs to clique subdivisions.

Provided a new method for embedding clique subdivisions.

Abstract

For a graph $G$ and a constant $\alpha>0$, we denote by $C_{\alpha}(G)$ the minimum order of a subgraph $H\subseteq G$ with $d(H)\ge \alpha d(G)$. Liu and Montgomery conjectured that every graph $G$ contains $K_{\Omega(t)}$ as a subdivision for $t=\min \{d(G), \sqrt{\tfrac{C_{\alpha}(G)}{\log C_{\alpha}(G)}}\}$. In the paper, we prove this conjecture.