On the Shannon Capacity of Triangular Graphs

Abstract

The Shannon capacity of a graph $G$ is $c(G)=\sup_{d\geq 1}(\alpha(G^d))^{\frac{1}{d}},$ where $\alpha(G)$ is the independence number of $G$. The Shannon capacity of the Kneser graph $\mathrm{KG}_{n,r}$ was determined by Lovász in 1979, but little is known about the Shannon capacity of the complement of that graph when $r$ does not divide $n$. The complement of the Kneser graph, $\overline{\mathrm{KG}}_{n,2}$, is also called the triangular graph $T_n$. The graph $T_n$ has the $n$-cycle $C_n$ as an induced subgraph, whereby $c(T_n) \geq c(C_n)$, and these two families of graphs are closely related in the current context as both can be considered via geometric packings of the discrete $d$-dimensional torus of width $n$ using two types of $d$-dimensional cubes of width $2$. Bounds on $c(T_n)$ obtained in this work include $c(T_7) \geq \sqrt[3]{35} \approx 3.271$, $c(T_{13}) \geq \sqrt[3]{248} \approx 6.283$, $c(T_{15}) \geq \sqrt[4]{2802} \approx 7.276$, and $c(T_{21}) \geq \sqrt[4]{11441} \approx 10.342$.