On Two Problems in Ramsey--Turán Theory

Abstract

Alon, Balogh, Keevash, and Sudakov proved that the $(k-1)$-partite Turan graph maximizes the number of distinct $r$-edge-colorings with no monochromatic $K_k$ for all fixed $k$ and $r=2,3$, among all $n$-vertex graphs. In this paper, we determine this function asymptotically for $r=2$ among $n$-vertex graphs with a sublinear independence number. Somewhat surprisingly, unlike Alon, Balog, Keevash, and Sudakov's result, the extremal construction from Ramsey--Turan theory, as a natural candidate, does not maximize the number of distinct edge-colorings with no monochromatic cliques among all graphs with a sublinear independence number, even in the 2-colored case. In the second problem, we determine the maximum number of triangles asymptotically in an $n$-vertex $K_k$-free graph $G$ with $\alpha(G)=o(n)$. The extremal graphs have a similar structure to the extremal graphs for the classical Ramsey--Turan problem, i.e., when the number of edges is maximized.