Covering the edges of a random graph by cliques

Abstract

The clique cover number of a graph G is the minimum number of cliques required to cover the edges of graph G. In this paper we consider the random graph G(n,p), for p constant. We prove that with probability 1-o(1), the clique number of G(n,p) is Theta(n^2/\log^2n).

This paper was published some time ago in Combinatorica 15 (1995) pp1-9. Reza Akhtar found an error in our proof. This version fixes the error and we take advantage of the arXiv to publish a complete correct version