Note on Vertex-Disjoint Cycles

Jacques Verstraete
Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics
Centre for Mathematical Sciences
Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 OWB
England. November 1999.
[email protected]

Abstract
H
aggkvist and Scott asked whether one can find a quadratic function q(k) such that if G is a graph of minimum degree at least
q(k), then G contains vertex-disjoint cycles of k consecutive even
lengths. In this paper, it is shown that if G is a graph of average
degree at least k 2 + 19k + 12 and sufficiently many vertices, then
G contains vertex-disjoint cycles of k consecutive even lengths, answering the above question in the affirmative. The coefficient of k 2
cannot be decreased and, in this sense, this result is best possible.

All graphs considered in this paper are simple and finite. Throughout
this paper, Ks,t denotes the complete bipartite graph with s vertices in one
colour class and t vertices in the other. Also, |H| denotes the order of a
graph H and e(H) denotes the number of edges in H. The word disjoint
will be taken to imply vertex-disjoint.
It is well-known that a graph of average degree at least two contains
at least one cycle. From this it is easy to deduce that if k is a natural
number, a graph of order n containing at least n + k 1 edges contains
k distinct cycles. Corradi and Hajnal [3] considered the requirement that
the k cycles be disjoint. They proved that a graph of minimum degree at
least 2k and order at least 3k contains k disjoint cycles. Under the same
minimum degree condition, Egawa [4] showed that a graph of order at least
17k + o(k) contains k disjoint cycles of the same length.
1

In a recent paper by Bondy and Vince [2], it was shown that if G is a

graph of order at least three containing at most two vertices of degree at most
two, then G contains a pair of cycles of consecutive lengths or consecutive
even lengths. The following general theorem was established by the author
(see Theorem 1 in [12]):
Theorem 1 Let k be a natural number and G a bipartite graph of average
degree at least 4k. Then there exist cycles of k consecutive even lengths in
G. Moreover, the shortest of these cycles has length at most twice the radius
of G.
In this paper, we consider the associated problem of finding disjoint
cycles of consecutive even lengths. H
aggkvist and Scott [5] asked whether
there exists a quadratic function q(k) such that if G is a graph of minimum
degree at least q(k), then G contains disjoint cycles of k consecutive even
lengths. We answer this question in the affirmative, by proving the following
theorem:
Theorem 2 Let k be a natural number and let G be a graph of order at least
nk = (16k 2 )! and average degree at least k 2 + 19k + 12. Then G contains
disjoint cycles of k consecutive even lengths.
Theorem 2 is best possible in the sense that for n large enough and
s = (k + 1)(k + 2)/2, the complete bipartite graph Ks1,n(s1) does not
contain k disjoint cycles of consecutive even lengths and has average degree
at least k 2 + 3k. From the proof of Theorem 2, we may also deduce that a
sufficiently large graph, of average degree at least 16k + 5 and containing no
cycle of length four, contains disjoint cycles of k consecutive even lengths.
This type of difference between general graphs and graphs containing no
cycle of length four was first observed by H
aggkvist (see Thomassen [11],
page 138). A similar phenomenon occurs for graphs of bounded maximum
degree.
In order to prove Theorem 2, we first need two lemmas. The first lemma
is a consequence of a lemma due to Kostochka and Pyber (see Lemma 1.1
page 84 in [7]):
2

Lemma 3 Let r be a natural number, c a positive real number, and let G

1
be a graph of order n and size at least cn1+ r . Then G contains a subgraph
of average degree at least c and radius at most r.
The second lemma is proved using a standard counting argument:
Lemma 4 Let s and t be natural numbers and let G be a bipartite graph
with colour classes A and B. If |A| > t|B|s+1 and e(G) s|A|, then G
contains Ks,t .


Proof. If v A and the degree of v is d(v), then there exist

subsets of B of size s in the neighbourhood of v. Since |A| > t|B|s+1 ,
X  d(v) 

vA

1
ss+1
1
ss+1

d(v)
s

d(v)s

vA

|A|s1

vA

!s

d(v)

1
e(G)s
|A|s1
1
1
s+1
ss |A|s
s
|A|s1


|B|
.
|A|/s > t|B|s t
s

ss+1

So there exists a subset of B of size s contained in the intersection of the

neighbourhoods of at least t vertices of A. This implies that Ks,t G.
Proof of Theorem 2. Let G be a graph of average degree at least k 2 +
19k+12, where k 2. Suppose G = G0 contains cycles of k consecutive even
lengths. Define r0 = min{r : G contains cycles of lengths 2r, 2r +2, . . . , 2r +
2k2}. Let X0 be a subgraph of G0 comprising the union of cycles of lengths
2r0 , 2r0 + 2, . . . , 2r0 + 2k 2 in G0 . Let G1 = G0 V (X0 ). If G0 , G1 , . . . , Gi
are defined, and Gi contains k cycles of consecutive even lengths, define
ri = min{r : Gi contains cycles of lengths 2r, 2r + 2, . . . , 2r + 2k 2}. Let
3

Xi be a subgraph of Gi comprising the union of cycles of lengths 2ri , 2ri +

2, . . . , 2ri + 2k 2 and let Gi+1 = Gi V (X0 ).
Note that the integers r0 , r1 , r2 , . . . form a non-decreasing sequence. If
k of the integers ri are identical, say ri = ri+1 = . . . = ri+k1 = m, then
G = G0 contains k disjoint cycles of lengths 2m, 2m + 2, . . . , 2m + 2k 2,
contained in Xi , Xi+1 , . . . , Xi+k1 respectively. Therefore suppose no k of
the integers ri are identical.
We claim that G = G0 contains cycles of k consecutive even lengths,
the shortest of which has length at most 2(log2 n)2 . Let B be a spanning
bipartite subgraph of G0 containing at least half of the edges of G0 . Set
2
r = b(log2 n)2 c. Since n nk 2k +1 , n1/r 1 + 1/2k and therefore
1 2
(k + 19k + 12)
4
1
(16k + 8)n

4
1
4kn1+ r .

e(B)

By Lemma 3, applied to B, there exists a subgraph H of B of average degree at least 4k and radius at most r (log2 n)2 . By Theorem 1, H (and
therefore G0 ) contains cycles of k consecutive even lengths, the shortest of
which has length at most 2(log2 n)2 . This shows that r0 (log2 n)2 . Conversely, whenever Gi does not contain cycles of k consecutive even lengths,
the shortest having length at most 2(log2 n)2 , Gi has average degree at most
16k + 8.
As G is finite, there exists a non-negative integer j such that rj
(log2 n)2 and Gj+1 does not contain cycles of k consecutive even lengths,
the shortest having length at most 2(log2 n)2 . Let G0 = Gj+1 and G00 =
G V (G0 ). Noting that |Xi | 2k(ri + k 2) and that no k of the integers
ri are identical,
|G00 |

j
X

|Xi |

i=0

 (k 1)

r
X

2k(i + k 2)

i=0

(k 1)kr(r + 1) + 2k(k 1)(k 2)(r + 1)

k3 r2
k 3 (log2 n)4 .
As G0 contains no cycles of k consecutive even lengths with shortest cycle
of length at most 2(log2 n)2 , G0 has average degree at most 16k + 8. Let
B 0 be the bipartite graph spanned by the edges of G with one end in G0
and the other in G00 . Then e(B 0 ) = e(G) e(G0 ) e(G00 ) and as |G00 |2
k 6 (log2 n)8 < n,
e(B 0 )

1 2
(k + 19k + 12)n
2
1 2
(k + 19k + 12)n
2
1 2
(k + 3k + 4)n n
2
1 2
(k + 3k + 2)n.
2

1
(16k + 8)|G0 | e(G00 )
2
1
(16k + 8)n |G00 |2
2

With s = 21 (k 2 + 3k + 2) and recalling that n nk ,

s|G00 |s+1 sk 3s+3 (log2 n)4s+4
< n k 3 (log2 n)4
n |G00 | = |G0 |.
Applying Lemma 4 to B 0 , we find a complete bipartite subgraph Ks,s in B 0 .
This is easily seen to contain k disjoint cycles of lengths 4, 6, . . . , 2k + 2.
The linear term 19k + 12 in the statement of Theorem 2 can probably be
improved. This theorem is best possible as seen by the complete bipartite
graph in the example following the statement of Theorem 2. In light of this
example, we make the following conjecture:
Conjecture 5 Any graph of average degree at least (k + 1)(k + 2) contains
k disjoint cycles of consecutive even lengths.
5

Given a graph H, a topological H is a graph obtained by arbitrarily

subdividing the edges of H. We now turn to the problem of finding disjoint
isomorphic topological H in a graph G.
This is a natural generalization of the problem of finding disjoint cycles
of the same length in a graph G. In this direction, Egawa [4] showed that
a sufficiently large graph of minimum degree at least 2k contains k disjoint
cycles of the same length.
Mader [10] was the first to establish the existence of a constant ct such
that every graph of average degree at least ct contains a topological complete
graph of order t. Pyber and Kostochka [7] used Maders result to show that
dense graphs contain small topological complete graphs:
2

Theorem 6 Let G be a graph of order n and size at least 4t n1+ , > 0.

Then G contains a topological complete graph of order at most 7t2 (log2 t)/.
Given a graph H, we now apply the method of the proof of Theorem 2
to find many disjoint isomorphic topological H subgraphs in a graph of high
enough average degree:
Theorem 7 Let H be a graph of order h and let n, k be positive integers
satisfying max{kh, 2e(H)k kh+2 (8h3 log2 n)(kh+1)e(H) } n. If G is a graph
2
of order n and average degree at least 4h +1 + 2kh + 1, then G contains k
disjoint isomorphic topological H.
Proof. If H is empty, then as n kh we easily find k disjoint isomorphic
H in G. Therefore, suppose H is non-empty. The number of isomorphic
topological H of order m is then at most the number of representations of
m h as an ordered sum of e(H) non-negative integers. This number is
precisely


m h + e(H) 1
.
e(H) 1


Let G = G0 and define G1 = G0 V (H0 ) where H0 is a smallest topological H appearing in G. By Theorem 5, with = (log2 n)1 , we can
6

guarantee that |H0 | 7h2 log2 h log2 n = m. In general, if Gi1 is defined,

let Gi = Gi1 V (Hi1 ) where Hi1 is a smallest topological H appearing
in Gi1 . We continue this procedure until we reach a stage j where Gj
does not contain a topological H of order at most m. Let G0 = Gj and
G00 = G V (Gj ). If k of the Hi are isomorphic in G00 then the requirements
of the theorem are met, so we suppose this is not the case. Then
00

|G |

m h + e(H) 1
(k 1)m
e(H) 1


km(m h + e(H) 1)e(H)1

k(8h2 log2 h log2 n)e(H)
k(8h3 log2 n)e(H) .
Under the assumption that 2e(H)k kh+2 (8h3 log2 n)(kh+1)e(H) n, the above
inequality implies that |G0 | = n |G00 | > n2 ke(H)|G00 |kh+1 .
2

By the definition of G00 and Theorem 5, e(G0 ) < 24h |G0 |. The number of
edges in the bipartite graph B, spanned by the edges with one end in G0 and
2
2
the other end in G00 , is therefore at least 12 (4h +1 +2kh44h )|G0 | kh|G0 |.
Applying Lemma 4 to B with s = kh and t = ke(H), we deduce that
B contains Kkh,ke(H) . This complete bipartite graph contains k disjoint
isomorphic topological H, in which every edge of H is subdivided precisely
once.
2
The expression 4h +1 + 2kh + 1 in the statement of the above theorem
is probably not best possible. Deep theorems of Bollob
as and Thomason [1]
and Koml
os and Szemeredi [8] show that a graph of average degree ch2 , for
some absolute contant c > 0, contains a topological complete graph of order
h. It may be true that for a different value of c, we even get a pair of disjoint
isomorphic topological complete graphs of order h.
It is not hard to see that the lower bound on n in the theorem can
be improved. To obtain k vertex disjoint isomorphic topological H in a
bipartite graph, we need only that it contain a large number of vertex disjoint
complete bipartite graph rather than one large complete bipartite graph.
The following Lemma makes this more precise:
7

Lemma 8 Let H be a graph of independence number and order h. Let m

be the minimum number of vertices in the smaller colour class in a bipartite
topological H, taken over all bipartite topological H. Then m = h .
Proof. By subdividing all the edges of H not incident with a maximum
independent set, we see that m h . For each set of + r vertices of H,
the subgraph induced by these vertices has at least r edges, by definition of
the independence number. So, if each of these edges has to be subdivided we
must have at least r new vertices on these edges. This shows that m h.
Hence m = h .
The remarks before the lemma, together with the same ideas as in the
preceding theorem give the following result:
Theorem 9 Let H be a graph of order h and independence number . Let
G be a graph of minimum degree at least k(h ) + o(k) and order at least
kh4e(H)+1 . Then G contains k disjoint isomorphic topological H.
We notice that when H = K3 , we are precisely considering vertexdisjoint cycles of the same length, which have been investigated by a number
of authors. This result is best possible up to the term o(k), since by the
preceding lemma, Kk(h)1,n contains no k disjoint topological H. This is
to be compared with the results arising from the Alon-Yuster conjecture: a
number of authors have shown that we can cover most of the vertices of a
graph G of order n and minimum degree at least n/2 with disjoint copies of
a prescribed bipartite graph. Koml
os (2000) has suggested that n/2 can be
replaced by (1 /h)n when H has order h and independence number .
The question here is what happens for kh n kh4e(H)+1 . It is very likely
that replacing the o(k) term with a constant depending only on H is very
difficult, as seen in the case of the Erd
os-Faudree conjecture (tiling a graph
of order n and minimum degree at least n/2 with 4-cycles).
Jrgensen and Pyber [6] have discussed problems involving covering the
edges of a graph with topological subgraphs. We consider an analogue for

covering vertices. Let H be a fixed graph. We let f (r, H) denote the maximum proportion of vertices that can be covered with disjoint topological H
in any r-regular graph. We define

f (H) = lim inf f (r, H)

r

f+ (H) = lim sup f (r, H).

r

Observe that 1/2 f (H) f+ (H) 1 for every H. The lower bound
follows by removing topological H from an r-regular graph G until we obtain
a graph F containing no topological H. Then the average degree of F is
bounded above by a constant c > 0 depending only on H, by the results
of Mader [10]. As G is r-regular, the number of edges between F and the
remainder of G is at most r(|G| |F |), but at least (r c)|F |. Therefore
|F | 12 (1 rc )1 |G| and hence f (H) 21 .
When H is a complete graph of order two or three, the problem above
becomes the problem of covering with paths or cycles respectively. Petersens
2-factor theorem (see [9] page 54) states that for k 1, every 2k-regular
graph contains a 2-factor. This shows that if H has order at most three, then
f+ (H) = 1. The author does not know of any graph H for which f (H) < 1
or f (H) < f+ (H); this problem may prove to be very interesting.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Andrew Thomason and the referee for their invaluable suggestions and comments.

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