For an $n$-vertex graph $G$ and a permutation $\sigma$ of its vertex set, let $\sigma(G)$ denote the corresponding relabelling of $G$, and put $I_G(\sigma)=|E(G)\cap E(\sigma(G))|$. Let $f(n,k)$ be the minimum number of edges in an $n$-vertex graph for which $I_G(\sigma)\geq k$ for every $\sigma$. In his 1977 formulation of the problem, Erd\H{o}s discussed the small values of $k$ and left the cases $k=4$ and $k=5$ as the next natural open questions. For $k=4$ he asked whether $f(n,4)=2n-4$, with the upper bound witnessed by $K_{2,n-2}$; the neighbouring $k=5$ question was recently settled exactly by Fang and Hou. We prove that every graph $G$ of order $n$ and size at most $2n-10n^{2/3}-7$ has a relabelling with at most three common edges. Consequently, \[ 2n-10n^{2/3}-7<f(n,4)\leq 2n-4, \] and hence \[ f(n,4)=2n-o(n). \] Thus we resolve Erd\H{o}s's four-edge intersection problem asymptotically, confirming his proposed value up to a sublinear error term. For comparison, for all sufficiently large $n$, Fang and Hou's result guarantees at most four common edges for graphs with at most $2n-3$ edges, whereas reducing the edge bound by only $10n^{2/3}+4=o(n)$ already allows us to guarantee at most three common edges.
For an $n$-vertex graph $G$ and a permutation $\sigma$ of its vertex set, let $\sigma(G)$ denote the corresponding relabelling of $G$, and put \[ I_G(\sigma)=|E(G)\cap E(\sigma(G))|. \] Let $f(n,k)$ be the minimum number of edges in an $n$-vertex graph for which $I_G(\sigma)\geq k$ for every $\sigma$. In 1977 Erd\H{o}s asked whether $f(n,4)=2n-4$, observing that $K_{2,n-2}$ gives the upper bound. We prove that, for all sufficiently large $n$, \[ f(n,4)=2n-4. \] Equivalently, every sufficiently large $n$-vertex graph with at most $2n-5$ edges has a relabelling with at most three common edges. Our proof is inspired by the recent work of Fang and Hou on the Erd\H{o}s--Mullin five-edge intersection problem and builds on their core--buffer and absorption framework. The main additional ingredients are a growing high-degree core $C$ satisfying \[ |C|\Delta(G-C)=o(n), \] and a rigidity analysis of the equality case in the relevant first-moment estimate. This analysis shows that the only core--buffer configuration forcing four local common edges is of $K_{2,|C|}$ type; the strict bound $e(G)\leq2n-5$ then supplies a defect which breaks this configuration.
Andrzej Żak· 0 citations
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