\( P_5\)-isolation in graphs (Q6048444)

\textit{Y. Caro} and \textit{A. Hansberg} [Filomat 31, No. 12, 3925--3944 (2017; Zbl 1488.05367)] introduced the concept of an $F$-isolating set of a graph $G$. A subset $S$ of $V(G)$ is an $F$-isolating set of $G$ if $G-N[S]$ contains no member of $F$ as a subgraph, where $F$ is a family of connected graphs. The $F$-isolation number of $G$, denoted by $\iota(G,F)$, is the minimum cardinality of an $F$-isolating set in $G$. The investigation of isolating sets is a natural generalization of the classical domination problem. That is, $S$ is a $K_1$-isolating set of $G$ if and only if $S$ is a dominating set of $G$, where $K_1$ is the complete graph on one vertex. In this paper, the authors are successful in establishing that, for a connected graph $G$ of order $n$ other than the cycle on 8 vertices, $\iota(G, P_5)\leq (2/9)n$ and that the bound is sharp. The proof is very long and runs to more than 18 pages with 20 claims.