arXiv subjects

Jiaxi Nie

Publications and source records attributed to Jiaxi Nie.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Block Designs with Large Transversal-Block Intersections

A block design is a set family, whose members are called blocks, where every pair of points in the universe is covered by exactly one block. Erdős asked the following question: is it true that if the universe is of size $n$ and each block is of size $Ω(\sqrt{n})$, then there exists a transversal intersecting every block in $O(1)$ points? We provide a negative answer to this question. Indeed, for arbitrarily large $n$, we construct such a block designs where every transversal intersects some block in $Ω(\frac{\log n}{\log\log n})$ points.

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arXiv2026

Matching and intersection problems for non-trivial $r$-partite $r$-uniform hypergraphs

A central theme in extremal combinatorics is the study of the maximum number of edges in an $r$-uniform hypergraph ($r$-graph) with matching number at most $s$ (the Erdős Matching Conjecture) or with pairwise intersection at least $t$ (the $t$-intersection problem). The maximum sizes for these problems are typically achieved by trivial constructions: for the matching problem, the extremal construction consists of all edges intersecting a fixed set of $s$ vertices, while for the intersection problem, it consists of all edges containing a fixed set of $t$ vertices. In this paper, we investigate the \emph{non-trivial} $r$-partite $r$-graphs where each part is of size $n$. We determine the exact bounds for both the matching problem and the intersection problem when $n$ is sufficiently large. Furthermore, for the intersection problem, we resolve the cases $t=1$ and $t=r-2$ for all $n \ge 2$. Our results partially confirm a conjecture of Lu and Ma (``Matching Stability for 3-Partite 3-Uniform Hypergraphs.'' Journal of Graph Theory (2026)).

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arXiv2026

Hypergraph Ramsey numbers with quasipolynomial growth rate

For a 3-uniform hypergraph (3-graph) $F$, let $r(F,n)$ be the smallest $N$ such that any $N$-vertex $F$-free 3-graph has an independent set of size $n$. We construct a $3$-graph $H_2$ with six vertices and five edges such that $r(H_2,n)=n^{Θ(\log n)}$, and a more general family of $3$-graphs $F$ for which $r(F,n)=n^{\log^{Θ(1)}(n)}$. These are the first examples of such Ramsey number known to be neither polynomial nor exponential.

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arXiv2025

New Sidorenko-type inequalities in tournaments

As a directed analog of Sidorenko's conjecture in extremal graph theory, Fox, Himwich, Zhou, and the second author defined an oriented graph $H$ to be tournament Sidorenko (anti-Sidorenko) if the random tournament asymptotically minimizes (maximizes) the number of copies of $H$ among all tournaments. We prove new inequalities of this form for oriented trees and cycles, considering both local and global notions of the Sidorenko property. We make progress on a conjecture of the aforementioned authors that every tree has an anti-Sidorenko direction, and give a characterization of short paths. For long paths we show that orientations are split symmetrically between being locally Sidorenko and anti-Sidorenko, yet almost all orientations are not globally Sidorenko. Finally, we give algorithms characterizing the local Sidorenko status of paths and cycles when the number of vertices is not divisible by four.

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arXiv2025

On the Matching Problem in Random Hypergraphs

We study a variant of the Erdős Matching Problem in random hypergraphs. Let $\mathcal{K}_p(n,k)$ denote the Erdős-Rényi random $k$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices where each possible edge is included with probability $p$. We show that when $n\gg k^{2}s$ and $p$ is not too small, with high probability, the maximum number of edges in a sub-hypergraph of $\mathcal{K}_p(n,k)$ with matching number $s$ is obtained by the trivial sub-hypergraphs, i.e. the sub-hypergraph consisting of all edges containing at least one vertex in a fixed set of $s$ vertices.

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arXiv2025

Decomposition of Cliques into $k$-Star-Forests

A $k$-star-forest is a forest with at most $k$ connected components where each component is a star. Let $F_k(n)$ be the minimum integer such that the complete graph on $n$ vertices can be decomposed into $F_k(n)$ $k$-star-forests. Pach, Saghafian and Schnider showed that $F_2(n)=\lceil 3n/4 \rceil$. In this paper, we show that $F_3(n)=5n/9$ when $n$ is a multiple of 27. Further, for $k\ge 4$, we show that $F_k(n)=n/2+2$ when $n>2k$ and $n\equiv 4 \pmod{12}$. Our results disprove a conjecture of Pach, Saghafian and Schnider.

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arXiv2025

Maximum in-general-position set in a random subset of $\mathbb{F}^d_q$

Let $α(\mathbb{F}_q^{d},p)$ be the maximum possible size of a point set in general position in a $p$-random subset of $\mathbb{F}_q^d$. We determine the order of magnitude of $α(\mathbb{F}_q^{d},p)$ up to a polylogarithmic factor by proving the balanced supersaturation conjecture of Balogh and Luo. Our result also resolves a conjecture implicitly posed by the first author, Liu, the second author and Zeng. In the course of our proof, we establish a lemma that demonstrates a ``structure vs. randomness'' phenomenon for point sets in finite-field linear spaces, which may be of independent interest.

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arXiv2025

Evasive sets, twisted varieties, and container-clique trees

In the affine space $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ over the finite field of order $q$, a point set $S$ is said to be $(d,k,r)$-evasive if the intersection between $S$ and any variety, of dimension $k$ and degree at most $d$, has cardinality less than $r$. As $q$ tends to infinity, the size of a $(d,k,r)$-evasive set in $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ is at most $O\left(q^{n-k}\right)$ by a simple averaging argument. We exhibit the existence of such evasive sets of sizes at least $Ω\left(q^{n-k}\right)$ for much smaller values of $r$ than previously known constructions, and establish an enumerative upper bound $2^{O(q^{n-k})}$ for the total number of such evasive sets. The existence result is based on our study of twisted varieties. In the projective space $\mathbb{P}^n$ over an algebraically closed field, a variety $V$ is said to be $d$-twisted if the intersection between $V$ and any variety, of dimension $n - \dim(V)$ and degree at most $d$, has dimension zero. We prove an upper bound on the smallest possible degree of twisted varieties which is best possible in a mild sense. The enumeration result includes a new technique for the container method which we believe is of independent interest. To illustrate the potential of this technique, we give a simpler proof of a result by Chen--Liu--Nie--Zeng that characterizes the maximum size of a collinear-triple-free subset in a random sampling of $ \mathbb{F}_q^2$ up to polylogarithmic factors.

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arXiv2025

Off-Diagonal Ramsey Numbers for Linear Hypergraphs

We study off-diagonal Ramsey numbers $r(H, K_n^{(k)})$ of $k$-uniform hypergraphs, where $H$ is a fixed linear $k$-uniform hypergraph and $K_n^{(k)}$ is complete on $n$ vertices. Recently, Conlon et al.\ disproved the folklore conjecture that $r(H, K_n^{(3)})$ always grows polynomially in $n$. In this paper we show that much larger growth rates are possible in higher uniformity. In uniformity $k\ge 4$, we prove that for any constant $C>0$, there exists a linear $k$-uniform hypergraph $H$ for which $$r(H,K_n^{(k)}) \geq \textup{twr}_{k-2}(2^{(\log n)^C}).$$

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arXiv2025

Sidorenko Hypergraphs and Random Turán Numbers

Let $\mathrm{ex}(G_{n,p}^r,F)$ denote the maximum number of edges in an $F$-free subgraph of the random $r$-uniform hypergraph $G_{n,p}^r$, and let $s(F):=\sup\{s: \exists H,\ t_F(H)=t_{K_r^r}(H)^{s+e(F)}>0\}$. Following recent work of Conlon, Lee, and Sidorenko, we prove non-trivial lower bounds on $\mathrm{ex}(G_{n,p}^r,F)$ whenever $s(F)>0$, i.e. $F$ is not Sidorenko. This connection between Sidorenko's conjecture and random Turán problems gives new lower bounds on $\mathrm{ex}(G_{n,p}^r,F)$ whenever $s(F)>0$, and further allows us to establish upper bounds for $s(F)$ whenever upper bounds for $\mathrm{ex}(G_{n,p}^r,F)$ are known. As a consequence, we prove that $s(\mathrm{E}^r(K_{k+1}^k))=\frac{1}{r-k}$ where $\mathrm{E}^r(K_{k+1}^k)$ is the $r$-expansion of $K_{k+1}^k$.

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arXiv2025

Supersaturation of odd linear cycles

An $r$-uniform linear cycle of length $\ell$, denoted by $C^r_{\ell}$, is an $r$-graph with $\ell$ edges $e_1,e_2,\dots,e_{\ell}$ where $e_i=\{v_{(r-1)(i-1)},v_{(r-1)(i-1)+1},\dots,v_{(r-1)i}\}$ (here $v_0=v_{(r-1)\ell}$). For $0<δ<1$ and $n$ sufficiently large, we show that every $n$-vertex $r$-graph $G$ with $n^{r-δ}$ edges contains at least $n^{(r-1)(2\ell+1)-δ(2\ell+1+\frac{4\ell-1}{(r-1)(2\ell+1)-3})-o(1)}$ copies of $C^r_{2\ell+1}$. Further, conditioning on the existence of dense high-girth hypergraphs, we show that there exists $n$-vertex $r$-graphs with $n^{r-δ}$ edges and at most $n^{(r-1)(2\ell+1)-δ(2\ell+1+\frac{1}{(r-1)\ell-1})+o(1)}$ copies of $C^r_{2\ell+1}$.

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arXiv2025

Generalized Erdős-Rogers problems for hypergraphs

Given $r$-uniform hypergraphs $G$ and $F$ and an integer $n$, let $f_{F,G}(n)$ be the maximum $m$ such that every $n$-vertex $G$-free $r$-graph has an $F$-free induced subgraph on $m$ vertices. We show that $f_{F,G}(n)$ is polynomial in $n$ when $G$ is a subgraph of an iterated blowup of $F$. As a partial converse, we show that if $G$ is not a subgraph of an $F$-iterated blowup and is $2$-tightly connected, then $f_{F,G}(n)$ is at most polylogarithmic in $n$. Our bounds generalize previous results of Dudek and Mubayi for the case when $F$ and $G$ are complete.

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arXiv2025

Random Turán and counting results for general position sets over finite fields

Let $α(\mathbb{F}_q^d,p)$ denote the maximum size of a general position set in a $p$-random subset of $\mathbb{F}_q^d$. We determine the order of magnitude of $α(\mathbb{F}_q^2,p)$ up to polylogarithmic factors for all possible values of $p$, improving the previous results obtained by Roche-Newton--Warren and Bhowmick--Roche-Newton. For $d \ge 3$ we prove upper bounds for $α(\mathbb{F}_q^d,p)$ that are essentially tight within certain ranges for $p$. We establish the upper bound $2^{(1+o(1))q}$ for the number of general position sets in $\mathbb{F}_q^d$, which matches the trivial lower bound $2^{q}$ asymptotically in the exponent. We also refine this counting result by proving an asymptotically tight (in the exponent) upper bound for the number of general position sets with a fixed size. The latter result for $d=2$ improves a result of Roche-Newton--Warren. Our proofs are grounded in the hypergraph container method, and additionally, for $d=2$ we also leverage the pseudorandomness of the point-line incidence graph of $\mathbb{F}_{q}^2$.

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arXiv2024

On tight tree-complete hypergraph Ramsey numbers

Chvátal showed that for any tree $T$ with $k$ edges the Ramsey number $R(T,n)=k(n-1)+1$ ("Tree-complete graph Ramsey numbers." Journal of Graph Theory 1.1 (1977): 93-93). For $r=3$ or $4$, we show that, if $T$ is an $r$-uniform non-trivial tight tree, then the hypergraph Ramsey number $R(T,n)=Θ(n^{r-1})$. The 3-uniform result comes from observing a construction of Cooper and Mubayi. The main contribution of this paper is the 4-uniform construction, which is inspired by the Cooper-Mubayi 3-uniform construction.

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arXiv2024

Random Turán Problems for $K_{s,t}$ Expansions

Let $K_{s,t}^{(r)}$ denote the $r$-uniform hypergraph obtained from the graph $K_{s,t}$ by inserting $r-2$ new vertices inside each edge of $K_{s,t}$. We prove essentially tight bounds on the size of a largest $K_{s,t}^{(r)}$-subgraph of the random $r$-uniform hypergraph $G_{n,p}^r$ whenever $r\ge 2s/3+2$, giving the first random Turán results for expansions that go beyond a natural "tight-tree barrier." In addition to this, our methods yield optimal supersaturation results for $K_{s,t}^{(3)}$ for sufficiently dense host hypergraphs, which may be of independent interest.

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arXiv2024

Random Turán Problems for Hypergraph Expansions

Given an $r_0$-uniform hypergraph $F$, we define its $r$-uniform expansion $F^{(r)}$ to be the hypergraph obtained from $F$ by inserting $r-r_0$ distinct vertices into each edge of $F$, and we define $\mathrm{ex}(G_{n,p}^r,F^{(r)})$ to be the largest $F^{(r)}$-free subgraph of the random hypergraph $G_{n,p}^r$. We initiate the first systematic study of $\mathrm{ex}(G_{n,p}^r,F^{(r)})$ for general hypergraphs $F$. Our main result essentially resolves this problem for large $r$ by showing that $\mathrm{ex}(G_{n,p}^r,F^{(r)})$ goes through three predictable phases whenever $F$ is Sidorenko and $r$ is sufficiently large, with the behavior of $\mathrm{ex}(G_{n,p}^r,F^{(r)})$ being provably more complex whenever $F$ has no Sidorenko expansion. Moreover, our methods unify and generalize almost all previously known results for the random Turán problem for degenerate hypergraphs of uniformity at least 3.

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arXiv2024

Off-diagonal Ramsey numbers for slowly growing hypergraphs

For a $k$-uniform hypergraph $F$ and a positive integer $n$, the Ramsey number $r(F,n)$ denotes the minimum $N$ such that every $N$-vertex $F$-free $k$-uniform hypergraph contains an independent set of $n$ vertices. A hypergraph is $\textit{slowly growing}$ if there is an ordering $e_1,e_2,\dots,e_t$ of its edges such that $|e_i \setminus \bigcup_{j = 1}^{i - 1}e_j| \leq 1$ for each $i \in \{2, \ldots, t\}$. We prove that if $k \geq 3$ is fixed and $F$ is any non $k$-partite slowly growing $k$-uniform hypergraph, then for $n\ge2$, \[ r(F,n) = Ω\Bigl(\frac{n^k}{(\log n)^{2k - 2}}\Bigr).\] In particular, we deduce that the off-diagonal Ramsey number $r(F_5,n)$ is of order $n^{3}/\mbox{polylog}(n)$, where $F_5$ is the triple system $\{123, 124, 345\}$. This is the only 3-uniform Berge triangle for which the polynomial power of its off-diagonal Ramsey number was not previously known. Our constructions use pseudorandom graphs, martingales, and hypergraph containers.

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arXiv2024

On odd covers of cliques and disjoint unions

Babai and Frankl posed the ``odd cover problem" of finding the minimum cardinality of a collection of complete bipartite graphs such that every edge of the complete graph of order $n$ is covered an odd number of times. In a previous paper with O'Neill, some of the authors proved that this value is always $\lceil n / 2 \rceil$ or $\lceil n / 2 \rceil + 1$ and that it is the former whenever $n$ is a multiple of $8$. In this paper, we determine this value to be $\lceil n / 2 \rceil$ whenever $n$ is odd or equivalent to $18$ modulo $24$. We also further the study of odd covers of graphs which are not complete, wherein edges are covered an odd number of times and nonedges an even number of times by the complete bipartite graphs in the collection. Among various results on disjoint unions, we find the minimum cardinality of an odd cover of a union of odd cliques and of a union of cycles.

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