Fair splittings by independent sets in sparse graphs

Abstract

Given a partition $V_1 \sqcup V_2 \sqcup \dots \sqcup V_m$ of the vertex set of a graph, we are interested in finding multiple disjoint independent sets that contain the correct fraction of vertices of each $V_j$. We give conditions for the existence of $q$ such independent sets in terms of the topology of the independence complex. We relate this question to the existence of $q$-fold points of coincidence for any continuous map from the independence complex to Euclidean space of a certain dimension, and to the existence of equivariant maps from the $q$-fold deleted join of the independence complex to a certain representation sphere of the symmetric group. As a corollary we derive the existence of $q$ pairwise disjoint independent sets accurately representing the $V_j$ in certain sparse graphs for $q$ a power of a prime.