Packing subdivisions into regular graphs

Abstract

We show that, for any graph $F$ and $\eta>0$, there exists a $d_0=d_0(F,\eta)$ such that every $n$-vertex $d$-regular graph with $d \geq d_0$ has a collection of vertex-disjoint $F$-subdivisions covering at least $(1-\eta)n$ vertices. This verifies a conjecture of Verstra\"ete from 2002 and improves a recent result of Letzter, Methuku and Sudakov which additionally required $d$ to be at least polylogarithmic in $n$.