Pure pairs. VIII. Excluding a sparse graph

Abstract

A pure pair of size $t$ in a graph $G$ is a pair $A,B$ of disjoint sets of $t$ vertices such that $A$ is either complete or anticomplete to $B$. It is known that, for every forest $H$, every graph on $n\ge 2$ vertices that does not contain $H$ or its complement as an induced subgraph has a pure pair of size $\Omega (n)$; furthermore, this only holds when $H$ or its complement is a forest. In this paper, we look at pure pairs of size $n^{1-c}$, where $0<c<1$. Let $H$ be a graph: does every graph on $n\ge 2$ vertices that does not contain $H$ or its complement as an induced subgraph have a pure pair $A,B$ with $|A|,|B|\ge \Omega (|G{|}^{1-c})$,? The answer is related to the congestion of $H$, the maximum of $1-(|J|-1)/|E(J)|$ over all subgraphs $J$ of $H$ with an edge. (Congestion is nonnegative, and equals zero exactly when $H$ is a forest.) Let $d$ be the smaller of the congestions of $H$ and $\overline{H}$. We show that the answer to the question above is "yes" if $d\le c/(9+15c)$, and "no" if $d>c$.