A non-aligning variant of generalized Tur\'an problems

Abstract

In the so-called generalized Tur\'an problems we study the largest number of copies of $H$ in an $n$-vertex $F$-free graph $G$. Here we introduce a variant, where $F$ is not forbidden, but we restrict how copies of $H$ and $F$ can be placed in $G$. More precisely, given an integer $n$ and graphs $H$ and $F$, what is the largest number of copies of $H$ in an $n$-vertex graph such that the vertex set of that copy does not contain and is not contained in the vertex set of a copy of $F$? We solve this problem for some instances, give bounds in other instances, and we use our results to determine the generalized Tur\'an number for some pairs of graphs.