Wiki
Wiki

Research notes on every problem, and a library of the papers behind them. Built from the open erdos repository.

Updated


Claim. For every sufficiently large even qq, every graph on q2+q+1q^2+q+1 vertices with 12q(q+1)2+1\frac12q(q+1)^2+1 edges contains at least q−1q-1 copies of C4C_4, and the paper characterizes the graphs with the fewest copies (He, Ma and Yang, Some extremal results on 4-cycles, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 149 (2021), 92--108). The result first appeared as Theorem 1.5 of arXiv:1912.00986v1, Stability and supersaturation of 44-cycles, for even q≥1012q\geq 10^{12}: such a graph either contains at least 2q−32q-3 copies of C4C_4 or is an orthogonal polarity graph of order qq with one edge added, in which case it contains q−1q-1, qq or q+1q+1 copies. Later versions of that arXiv record became the authors' separate paper in CSIAM Trans. Appl. Math. 4 (2023), 74--128. When qq is a power of 22, Füredi's bound and the polarity graph give ex(q2+q+1;C4)=12q(q+1)2\mathrm{ex}(q^2+q+1;C_4)=\frac12q(q+1)^2. Deleting edges only removes four-cycles, so every graph on n=q2+q+1n=q^2+q+1 vertices with more than ex(n;C4)\mathrm{ex}(n;C_4) edges has at least q−1=(1−o(1))nq-1=(1-o(1))\sqrt n copies of C4C_4, which is what Problem 60 asks at these orders. The v1 manuscript states this as Corollary 1.6: for q=2kq=2^k with k≥40k\geq 40, the least number of copies of C4C_4 in a graph on q2+q+1q^2+q+1 vertices with ex(q2+q+1;C4)+1\mathrm{ex}(q^2+q+1;C_4)+1 edges is exactly q−1q-1, attained exactly by an orthogonal polarity graph of order qq with an edge added between two vertices of degree qq.

Covers. The orders n=q2+q+1n=q^2+q+1 with qq a sufficiently large power of 22. Nothing for other nn; the problem stays open. The site's commentary credits the paper with the conjecture for every even qq, but for even qq that is not a power of 22 the value of ex(q2+q+1;C4)\mathrm{ex}(q^2+q+1;C_4) is not known to equal 12q(q+1)2\frac12q(q+1)^2, so a graph with ex(n;C4)+1\mathrm{ex}(n;C_4)+1 edges need not have the theorem's edge count and the theorem does not reach the problem there; the formal-conjectures variant erdos_60.variants.he_ma_yang, linked from the problem page, states the result for powers of 22 only.

Depends on. Nothing in this wiki.

Acceptance. Refereed: J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 149 (2021), 92--108. The site's commentary credits the paper, but the site labels the problem OPEN, so that credit is not reviewed evidence. No Lean proof of the result is recorded; the formal-conjectures variant carries sorry.