An extremal problem for a graphic sequence to have a realization containing every 2-tree with prescribed size

Abstract

A graph $G$ is a $2$<i>-tree</i> if $G=K_3$, or $G$ has a vertex $v$ of degree 2, whose neighbors are adjacent, and $G-v$ is a 2-tree. Clearly, if $G$ is a 2-tree on $n$ vertices, then $|E(G)|=2n-3$. A non-increasing sequence $\pi =(d_1, \ldots ,d_n)$ of nonnegative integers is a <i>graphic sequence</i> if it is realizable by a simple graph $G$ on $n$ vertices. Yin and Li (Acta Mathematica Sinica, English Series, 25(2009)795–802) proved that if $k \geq 2$, $n \geq \frac{9}{2}k^2 + \frac{19}{2}k$ and $\pi =(d_1, \ldots ,d_n)$ is a graphic sequence with $\sum \limits_{i=1}^n d_i > (k-2)n$, then $\pi$ has a realization containing every tree on $k$ vertices as a subgraph. Moreover, the lower bound $(k-2)n$ is the best possible. This is a variation of a conjecture due to Erdős and Sós. In this paper, we investigate an analogue extremal problem for 2-trees and prove that if $k \geq 3$, $n \geq 2k^2-k$ and $\pi =(d_1, \ldots ,d_n)$ is a graphic sequence with $\sum \limits_{i=1}^n d_i > \frac{4kn}{3} - \frac{5n}{3}$ then $\pi$ has a realization containing every 2-tree on $k$ vertices as a subgraph. We also show that the lower bound $\frac{4kn}{3} - \frac{5n}{3}$ is almost the best possible.