On the maximum induced density of directed stars and related problems

Abstract

Let k>=3 be an integer, we prove that the maximum induced density of the k-vertex directed star in a directed graph is attained by an iterated blow-up construction. This confirms a conjecture by Falgas-Ravry and Vaughan, who proved this for k=3, 4. This question provides the first known instance of density problem for which one can prove extremality of an iterated blow-up construction. We also study the inducibility of complete bipartite digraphs and discuss other related problems.