Finding a Maximum Independent Set in a Sparse Random Graph

We consider the problem of finding a maximum independent set in a random graph. The random graphG is modelled as follows. Every edge is included independently with probability d n , where d is some sufficiently large constant. Thereafter, for some constant α, a subset I of αn vertices is chosen at random, and all edges within this subset are removed. In this model, the planted independent set I is a good approximation for the maximum independent set Imax, but both I \ Imax and Imax \ I are likely to be nonempty. We present a polynomial time algorithms that with high probability (over the random choice of random graphG, and without being given the planted independent set I) finds the maximum independent set in G when α ≥ √ c0 d , where c0 is some sufficiently large constant independent of d.