A generalized Turán problem and its applications

Abstract

Our first theorem in this paper is a hierarchy theorem for the query complexity of testing graph properties with 1-sided error; more precisely, we show that for every sufficiently fast-growing function f, there is a graph property whose 1-sided-error query complexity is precisely f(Θ(1/ε)). No result of this type was previously known for any f which is super-polynomial. Goldreich [ECCC 2005] asked to exhibit a graph property whose query complexity is 2Θ(1/ε). Our hierarchy theorem partially resolves this problem by exhibiting a property whose 1-sided-error query complexity is 2Θ(1/ε). We also use our hierarchy theorem in order to resolve a problem raised by the second author and Alon [STOC 2005] regarding testing relaxed versions of bipartiteness. Our second theorem states that for any function f there is a graph property whose 1-sided-error query complexity is f(Θ(1/ε)) while its 2-sided-error query complexity is only poly(1/ε). This is the first indication of the surprising power that 2-sided-error testing algorithms have over 1-sided-error ones, even when restricted to properties that are testable with 1-sided error. Again, no result of this type was previously known for any f that is super polynomial. The above theorems are derived from a graph theoretic result which we think is of independent interest, and might have further applications. Alon and Shikhelman [JCTB 2016] introduced the following generalized Turán problem: for fixed graphs H and T, and an integer n, what is the maximum number of copies of T, denoted by ex(n,T,H), that can appear in an n-vertex H-free graph? This problem received a lot of attention recently, with an emphasis on ex(n,C3,C2ℓ +1). Our third theorem in this paper gives tight bounds for ex(n,Ck,Cℓ) for all the remaining values of k and ℓ.