On the Number of Maximal Bipartite Subgraphs of a Graph

Abstract

We show new lower and upper bounds on the number of maximal induced bipartite subgraphs of graphs with n vertices. We present an infinite family of graphs having 105^{n/10} ~= 1.5926^n such subgraphs, which improves an earlier lower bound by Schiermeyer (1996). We show an upper bound of n . 12^{n/4} ~= n . 1.8613^n and give an algorithm that lists all maximal induced bipartite subgraphs in time proportional to this bound. This is used in an algorithm for checking 4-colourability of a graph running within the same time bound.