An Erd\H{o}s-Gallai-type theorem for keyrings

Abstract

A keyring is a graph obtained by appending $r \geq 1$ leaves to one of the vertices of a cycle. We prove that for every $r \leq (k-1)/2$, any graph with average degree more than $k-1$ contains a keyring with $r$ leaves and at least $k$ edges.