Induced subgraph density. IV. New graphs with the Erdős-Hajnal property

Abstract

Erdős and Hajnal conjectured that for every graph $H$, there exists $c>0$ such that every $H$-free graph $G$ has a clique or a stable set of size at least $|G{|}^c$ (a graph is $H$-free if it has no induced subgraph isomorphic to $H$). Alon, Pach, and Solymosi reduced the Erdős-Hajnal conjecture to the case when $H$ is {\em prime} (that is, $H$ cannot be obtained by vertex-substitution from smaller graphs); but until now, it was not shown for any prime graph with more than five vertices. We will provide infinitely many prime graphs that satisfy the conjecture. Let $H$ be a graph with the property that for every prime induced subgraph $G^{\prime }$ with $|G^{\prime }|\ge 3$, $G^{\prime }$ has a vertex of degree one and a vertex of degree $|G^{\prime }|-2$. We will prove that every graph $H$ with this property satisfies the Erdős-Hajnal conjecture, and infinitely many graphs with this property are prime. More generally, say a graph is {\em buildable} if every prime induced subgraph with at least three vertices has a vertex of degree one. We prove that if $H_1$ and $\overline{H_2}$ are buildable, there exists $c>0$ such that every graph $G$ that is both $H_1$-free and $H_2$-free has a clique or a stable set of size at least $|G{|}^c$. Our proof uses a new technique of ``iterative sparsification'', where we pass to a sequence of successively more restricted induced subgraphs. This approach also extends to ordered graphs and to tournaments. For ordered graphs, we obtain a theorem which significantly extends a recent result of Pach and Tomon about excluding monotone paths; and for tournaments, we obtain infinitely many new prime tournaments that satisfy the Erdős-Hajnal conjecture (in tournament form).

24 pages, accepted version