Induced subgraphs with many repeated degrees

Abstract

Erd\H{o}s, Fajtlowicz and Staton asked for the least integer $f(k)$ such that every graph with more than $f(k)$ vertices has an induced regular subgraph with at least $k$ vertices. Here we consider the following relaxed notions. Let $g(k)$ be the least integer such that every graph with more than $g(k)$ vertices has an induced subgraph with at least $k$ repeated degrees and let $h(k)$ be the least integer such that every graph with more than $h(k)$ vertices has an induced subgraph with at least $k$ maximum degree vertices. We obtain polynomial lower bounds for $h(k)$ and $g(k)$ and nontrivial linear upper bounds when the host graph has bounded maximum degree.