On generalized Tur\'{a}n problems for expansions

Abstract

Given a graph $F$, the $r$-expansion $F^r$ of $F$ is the $r$-uniform hypergraph obtained from $F$ by inserting $r-2$ new distinct vertices in each edge of $F$. Given $r$-uniform hypergraphs $\mathcal{H}$ and $\mathcal{F}$, the generalized Tur\'{a}n number, denoted by $\textrm{ex}_r(n,\mathcal{H},\mathcal{F})$, is the maximum number of copies of $\mathcal{H}$ in an $n$-vertex $r$-uniform hypergraph that does not contain $\mathcal{F}$ as a subhypergraph. In the case where $r=2$ (i.e., the graph case), the study of generalized Tur\'{a}n problems was initiated by Alon and Shikhelman [\textit{J. Combin. Theory Series B.} 121 (2016) 146--172]. Motivated by their work, we systematically study generalized Tur\'{a}n problems for expansions and obtain several general and exact results. In particular, for the non-degenerate case, we determine the exact generalized Tur\'{a}n number for expansions of complete graphs, and establish the asymptotics of the generalized Tur\'{a}n number for expansions of the vertex-disjoint union of complete graphs. For the degenerate case, we establish the asymptotics of generalized Tur\'{a}n numbers for expansions of several classes of forests, including star forests, linear forests and star-path forests.