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Lihua Feng

Publications and source records attributed to Lihua Feng.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2025

A spectral Erdős-Faudree-Rousseau theorem

A well-known theorem of Mantel states that every $n$-vertex graph with more than $\lfloor n^2/4\rfloor $ edges contains a triangle. An interesting problem in extremal graph theory studies the minimum number of edges contained in triangles among graphs with a prescribed number of vertices and edges. Erdős, Faudree and Rousseau (1992) showed that a graph on $n$ vertices with more than $\lfloor n^2/4\rfloor $ edges contains at least $2\lfloor n/2\rfloor +1$ edges in triangles. Such edges are called triangular edges. In this paper, we present a spectral version of the result of Erdős, Faudree and Rousseau. Using the supersaturation-stability and the spectral technique, we prove that every $n$-vertex graph $G$ with $λ(G) \ge \sqrt{\lfloor n^2/4\rfloor}$ contains at least $2 \lfloor {n}/{2} \rfloor -1$ triangular edges, unless $G$ is a balanced complete bipartite graph. The method in our paper has some interesting applications. Firstly, the supersaturation-stability can be used to revisit a conjecture of Erdős concerning with the booksize of a graph, which was initially proved by Edwards (unpublished), and independently by Khadžiivanov and Nikiforov (1979). Secondly, our method can improve the bound on the order $n$ of the spectral extremal graph when we forbid the friendship graph as a substructure. We drop the condition that requires the order $n$ to be sufficiently large, which was investigated by Cioabă, Feng, Tait and Zhang (2020) using the triangle removal lemma. Thirdly, this method can be utilized to deduce the classical stability for odd cycles and it gives more concise bounds on parameters. Finally, the supersaturation-stability could be applied to deal with the spectral graph problems on counting triangles, which was recently studied by Ning and Zhai (2023).

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arXiv2025

Spectral supersaturation: Triangles and bowties

Recently, Ning and Zhai (2023) proved that every $n$-vertex graph $G$ with $λ(G) \ge \sqrt{\lfloor n^2/4\rfloor}$ has at least $\lfloor n/2\rfloor -1$ triangles, unless $G=K_{\lceil \frac{n}{2} \rceil, \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor}$. The aim of this paper is two-fold. Using the supersaturation-stability method, we prove a stability variant of Ning-Zhai's result by showing that such a graph $G$ contains at least $n-3$ triangles if no vertex is in all triangles of $G$. This result could also be viewed as a spectral version of a result of Xiao and Katona (2021). The second part concerns with the spectral supersaturation for the bowtie, which consists of two triangles sharing a common vertex. A theorem of Erdős, Füredi, Gould and Gunderson (1995) says that every $n$-vertex graph with more than $\lfloor n^2/4\rfloor +1$ edges contains a bowtie. For graphs of given order, the spectral supersaturation problem has not been considered for substructures that are not color-critical. In this paper, we give the first such theorem by counting the number of bowties. Let $K_{\lceil \frac{n}{2} \rceil, \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor}^{+2}$ be the graph obtained from $K_{\lceil \frac{n}{2} \rceil, \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor}$ by embedding two disjoint edges into the vertex part of size $\lceil \frac{n}{2} \rceil$. Our result shows that every graph $G$ with $n\ge 8.8 \times 10^6$ vertices and $λ(G)\ge λ(K_{\lceil \frac{n}{2} \rceil, \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor}^{+2})$ contains at least $\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor$ bowties, and $K_{\lceil \frac{n}{2} \rceil, \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor}^{+2}$ is the unique spectral extremal graph. This gives a spectral correspondence of a theorem of Kang, Makai and Pikhurko (2020). The method used in our paper provides a probable way to establish the spectral counting results for other graphs, even for non-color-critical graphs.

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arXiv2025

Spectral extremal problems for non-bipartite graphs without odd cycles

A well-known result of Mantel asserts that every $n$-vertex triangle-free graph $G$ has at most $\lfloor n^2/4 \rfloor$ edges. Moreover, Erdős proved that if $G$ is further non-bipartite, then $e(G)\le \lfloor {(n-1)^2}/{4}\rfloor +1$. Recently, Lin, Ning and Wu [Combin. Probab. Comput. 30 (2021)] established a spectral version by showing that if $G$ is a triangle-free non-bipartite graph on $n$ vertices, then $λ(G)\le λ(S_1(T_{n-1,2}))$, with equality if and only if $G=S_1(T_{n-1,2})$, where $S_1(T_{n-1,2})$ is obtained from $T_{n-1,2}$ by subdividing an edge. In this paper, we investigate the maximum spectral radius of a non-bipartite graph without some short odd cycles. Let $C_{2\ell +1}(T_{n-2\ell, 2})$ be the graph obtained by identifying a vertex of $C_{2\ell+1}$ and a vertex of the smaller partite set of $T_{n-2\ell ,2}$. We prove that for $1\le \ell < k$ and $n\ge 187k$, if $G$ is an $n$-vertex $\{C_3,\ldots ,C_{2\ell -1},C_{2k+1}\}$-free non-bipartite graph, then $λ(G)\le λ(C_{2\ell +1}(T_{n-2\ell, 2}))$, with equality if and only if $G=C_{2\ell +1}(T_{n-2\ell, 2})$. This result could be viewed as a spectral analogue of a min-degree result due to Yuan and Peng [European J. Combin. 127 (2025)]. Moreover, our result extends a result of Guo, Lin and Zhao [Linear Algebra Appl. 627 (2021)] as well as a recent result of Zhang and Zhao [Discrete Math. 346 (2023)] since we can get rid of the condition that $n$ is sufficiently large. The argument in our proof is quite different and makes use of the classical spectral stability method and the double-eigenvector technique. The main innovation lies in a more clever argument that guarantees a subgraph to be bipartite after removing few vertices, which may be of independent interest.

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arXiv2025

Maximal intersecting families revisited

The well-known Erdős--Ko--Rado theorem states that for $n> 2k$, every intersecting family of $k$-sets of $[n]:=\{1,\ldots ,n\}$ has at most $ {n-1 \choose k-1}$ sets, and the extremal family consists of all $k$-sets containing a fixed element (called a full star). The Hilton--Milner theorem provides a stability result by determining the maximum size of a uniform intersecting family that is not a subfamily of a full star. The further stabilities were studied by Han and Kohayakawa (2017) and Huang and Peng (2024). Two families $\mathcal{F}$ and $\mathcal{G}$ are called cross-intersecting if for every $F\in \mathcal{F}$ and $G\in \mathcal{G}$, the intersection $F\cap G$ is non-empty. Let $k \geq 1, t\ge 0$ and $n \geq 2 k+t$ be integers. Frankl (2016) proved that if $\mathcal{F} \subseteq\binom{[n]}{k+t}$ and $\mathcal{G} \subseteq\binom{[n]}{k}$ are cross-intersecting families, and $\mathcal{F}$ is non-empty and $(t+1)$-intersecting, then $|\mathcal{F}|+|\mathcal{G}| \leq\binom{n}{k}-\binom{n-k-t}{k}+1$. Recently, Wu (2023) sharpened Frankl's result by establishing a stability variant. The aim of this paper is two-fold. Inspired by the above results, we first prove a further stability variant that generalizes both Frankl's result and Wu's result. Secondly, as an interesting application, we illustrate that the aforementioned results on cross-intersecting families could be used to establish the stability results of the Erdős--Ko--Rado theorem. More precisely, we present new short proofs of the Hilton--Milner theorem, the Han--Kohayakawa theorem and the Huang--Peng theorem. Our arguments are more straightforward, and it may be of independent interest.

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arXiv2025

Stabilities of the Kleitman diameter theorem

Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a family of subsets of $[n]$. The diameter of $\mathcal{F}$ is the maximum size of symmetric differences among pairs of its members. Resolving a conjecture of Erdős, Kleitman determined the maximum size of a family with fixed diameter, which states that a family with diameter $s$ has cardinality at most that of a Hamming ball of radius $s/2$. Specifically, if $\mathcal{F} \subseteq 2^{[n]}$ is a family with diameter $s$, then for $s=2d$, $|\mathcal{F}|\le \sum_{i=0}^d {n \choose i}$; for $s=2d+1$, $|\mathcal{F}|\le \sum_{i=0}^d {n \choose i} + {n-1 \choose d}$. This result is known as the Kleitman diameter theorem, which generalizes both the Katona union theorem and the Erdős--Ko--Rado theorem. In 2017, Frankl provided a complete characterization of the extremal families of Kleitman's theorem and provided a stability result. In this paper, we determine the extremal families of Frankl's theorem and establish a further stability result of Kleitman's theorem. This solves a recent problem proposed by Li and Wu. Our findings constitute the second stability for the Kleitman diameter theorem.

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arXiv2025

A result for hemi-bundled cross-intersecting families

Two families $\mathcal{F}$ and $\mathcal{G}$ are called cross-intersecting if for every $F\in \mathcal{F}$ and $G\in \mathcal{G}$, the intersection $F\cap G$ is non-empty. It is significant to determine the maximum sum of sizes of cross-intersecting families under the additional assumption that one of the two families is intersecting. Such a pair of families is said to be hemi-bundled. In particular, Frankl (2016) proved that for $k \geq 1, t\ge 0$ and $n \geq 2 k+t$, if $\mathcal{F} \subseteq\binom{[n]}{k+t}$ and $\mathcal{G} \subseteq\binom{[n]}{k}$ are cross-intersecting families, in which $\mathcal{F}$ is non-empty and $(t+1)$-intersecting, then $|\mathcal{F}|+|\mathcal{G}| \leq\binom{n}{k}-\binom{n-k-t}{k}+1$. This bound can be attained when $\mathcal{F}$ consists of a single set. In this paper, we generalize this result under the constraint $|\mathcal{F}| \geq r$ for every $r\leq n-k-t+1$. Moreover, we investigate the stability results of Katona's theorem for non-uniform families with the $s$-union property. Our result extends the stabilities established by Frankl (2017) and Li and Wu (2024). As applications, we revisit a recent result of Frankl and Wang (2024) as well as a result of Kupavskii (2018). Furthermore, we determine the extremal families in these two results.

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arXiv2025

Proof of Frankl's conjecture on cross-intersecting families

Two families $\mathcal{F}$ and $\mathcal{G}$ are called cross-intersecting if for every $F\in \mathcal{F}$ and $G\in \mathcal{G}$, the intersection $F\cap G$ is non-empty. For any positive integers $n$ and $k$, let $\binom{[n]}{k}$ denote the family of all $k$-element subsets of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$. Let $t, s, k, n$ be non-negative integers with $k \geq s+1$ and $n \geq 2 k+t$. In 2016, Frankl proved that if $\mathcal{F} \subseteq\binom{[n]}{k+t}$ and $\mathcal{G} \subseteq\binom{[n]}{k}$ are cross-intersecting families, and $\mathcal{F}$ is $(t+1)$-intersecting and $|\mathcal{F}| \geq 1$, then $|\mathcal{F}|+|\mathcal{G}| \leq\binom{n}{k}-\binom{n-k-t}{k}+1$. Furthermore, Frankl conjectured that under an additional condition $\binom{[k+t+s]} {k+t}\subseteq\mathcal{F}$, the following inequality holds: $$ |\mathcal{F}|+|\mathcal{G}| \leq\binom{k+t+s}{k+t}+\binom{n}{k}-\sum_{i=0}^s\binom{k+t+s}{i}\binom{n-k-t-s}{k-i}. $$ In this paper, we prove this conjecture. The key ingredient is to establish a theorem for cross-intersecting families with a restricted universe. Moreover, we derive an analogous result for this conjecture.

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arXiv2024

$\mathcal{L}$-intersecting or Configuration Forbidden Families on Set Systems and Vector Spaces over Finite Fields

In this paper, we derive a tight upper bound for the size of an intersecting $k$-Sperner family of subspaces of the $n$-dimensional vector space $\mathbb{F}_{q}^{n}$ over finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q}$ which gives a $q$-analogue of the Erdős' $k$-Sperner Theorem, and we then establish a general relationship between upper bounds for the sizes of families of subsets of $[n] = \{1, 2, \dots, n\}$ with property $P$ and upper bounds for the sizes of families of subspaces of $\mathbb{F}_{q}^{n}$ with property $P$, where $P$ is either $\mathcal{L}$-intersecting or forbidding certain configuration. Applying this relationship, we derive generalizations of the well known results about the famous Erdős matching conjecture and Erdős-Chvátal simplex conjecture to linear lattices. As a consequence, we disprove a related conjecture on families of subspaces of $\mathbb{F}_{q}^{n}$ by Ihringer [Europ. J. Combin., 94 (2021), 103306].

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arXiv2024

A spectral extremal problem on non-bipartite triangle-free graphs

A theorem of Nosal and Nikiforov states that if $G$ is a triangle-free graph with $m$ edges, then $λ(G)\le \sqrt{m}$, where the equality holds if and only if $G$ is a complete bipartite graph. A well-known spectral conjecture of Bollobás and Nikiforov [J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 97 (2007)] asserts that if $G$ is a $K_{r+1}$-free graph with $m$ edges, then $λ_1^2(G) + λ_2^2(G) \le (1-\frac{1}{r})2m$. Recently, Lin, Ning and Wu [Combin. Probab. Comput. 30 (2021)] confirmed the conjecture in the case $r=2$. Using this base case, they proved further that $λ(G)\le \sqrt{m-1}$ for every non-bipartite triangle-free graph $G$, with equality if and only if $m=5$ and $G=C_5$. Moreover, Zhai and Shu [Discrete Math. 345 (2022)] presented an improvement by showing $λ(G) \le β(m)$, where $β(m)$ is the largest root of $Z(x):=x^3-x^2-(m-2)x+m-3$. The equality in Zhai--Shu's result holds only if $m$ is odd and $G$ is obtained from the complete bipartite graph $K_{2,\frac{m-1}{2}}$ by subdividing exactly one edge. Motivated by this observation, Zhai and Shu proposed a question to find a sharp bound when $m$ is even. We shall solve this question by using a different method and characterize three kinds of spectral extremal graphs over all triangle-free non-bipartite graphs with even size. Our proof technique is mainly based on applying Cauchy interlacing theorem of eigenvalues of a graph, and with the aid of a triangle counting lemma in terms of both eigenvalues and the size of a graph.

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arXiv2024

Snevily's Conjecture about $\mathcal{L}$-intersecting Families on Set Systems and its Analogue on Vector Spaces

The classical Erdős-Ko-Rado theorem on the size of an intersecting family of $k$-subsets of the set $[n] = \{1, 2, \dots, n\}$ is one of the fundamental intersection theorems for set systems. After the establishment of the EKR theorem, many intersection theorems on set systems have appeared in the literature, such as the well-known Frankl-Wilson theorem, Alon-Babai-Suzuki theorem, and Grolmusz-Sudakov theorem. In 1995, Snevily proposed the conjecture that the upper bound for the size of an $\mathcal{L}$-intersecting family of subsets of $[n]$ is ${{n} \choose {s}}$ under the condition $\max \{l_{i}\} < \min \{k_{j}\}$, where $\mathcal{L} = \{l_{1}, \dots, l_{s}\}$ with $0 \leq l_{1} < \cdots < l_{s}$ and $k_{j}$ are subset sizes in the family. In this paper, we prove that Snevily's conjecture holds for $n \geq {k^{2} \choose {l_{1}+1}}s + l_{1}$, where $k$ is the maximum subset size in the family. We then derive an analogous result for $\mathcal{L}$-intersecting families of subspaces of an $n$-dimensional vector space over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q}$.

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arXiv2024

Extremal graphs for the odd prism

The Turán number $\mathrm{ex}(n,H)$ of a graph $H$ is the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex graph which does not contain $H$ as a subgraph. The Turán number of regular polyhedrons was widely studied in a series of works due to Simonovits. In this paper, we shall present the exact Turán number of the prism $C_{2k+1}^{\square} $, which is defined as the Cartesian product of an odd cycle $C_{2k+1}$ and an edge $ K_2 $. Applying a deep theorem of Simonovits and a stability result of Yuan [European J. Combin. 104 (2022)], we shall determine the exact value of $\mathrm{ex}(n,C_{2k+1}^{\square})$ for every $k\ge 1$ and sufficiently large $n$, and we also characterize the extremal graphs. Moreover, in the case of $k=1$, motivated by a recent result of Xiao, Katona, Xiao and Zamora [Discrete Appl. Math. 307 (2022)], we will determine the exact value of $\mathrm{ex}(n,C_{3}^{\square} )$ for every $n$ instead of for sufficiently large $n$.

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arXiv2023

Spectral extremal graphs without intersecting triangles as a minor

Let $F_s$ be the friendship graph obtained from $s$ triangles by sharing a common vertex. For fixed $s\ge 2$ and sufficiently large $n$, the $F_s$-free graphs of order $n$ which attain the maximal spectral radius was firstly characterized by Cioabă, Feng, Tait and Zhang [Electron. J. Combin. 27 (4) (2020)],and later uniquely determined by Zhai, Liu and Xue [Electron. J. Combin. 29 (3) (2022)]. Recently, the spectral extremal problems was widely studied for graphs containing no $H$ as a minor. For instance, Tait [J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 166 (2019)], Zhai and Lin [J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 157 (2022)] solved the case $H=K_r$ and $H=K_{s,t}$, respectively. Motivated by these results, we consider the spectral extremal problems in the case $H=F_s$. We shall prove that $K_s \vee I_{n-s}$ is the unique graph that attain the maximal spectral radius over all $n$-vertex $F_s$-minor-free graphs. Moreover, let $Q_t$ be the graph obtained from $t$ copies of the cycle of length $4$ by sharing a common vertex. We also determine the unique $Q_t$-minor-free graph attaining the maximal spectral radius. Namely, $K_t \vee M_{n-t}$, where $M_{n-t}$ is a graph obtained from an independent set of order $n-t$ by embedding a matching consisting of $\lfloor \frac{n-t}{2}\rfloor$ edges.

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arXiv2022

Inequalities for generalized matrix function and inner product

We present inequalities related to generalized matrix function for positive semidefinite block matrices. We introduce partial generalized matrix functions corresponding to partial traces, and then provide a unified extension of the recent inequalities due to Lin [Electron. J. Linear Algebra 27 (2014) 821-826], Zhang et al. [Linear Algebra Appl. 498 (2016) 99-105] and [Electron. J. Linear Algebra 27 (2014) 332-341] and a result of Choi [Linear Algebra Appl. 532 (2017) 1-7]. Moreover, we demonstrate the application of a positive semidefinite $3\times 3$ block matrix, which motivates us to give alternative proofs of Dragomir's inequality and Krein's inequality.

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arXiv2022

A survey on spectral conditions for some extremal graph problems

This survey is two-fold. We first report new progress on the spectral extremal results on the Turán type problems in graph theory. More precisely, we shall summarize the spectral Turán function in terms of the adjacency spectral radius and the signless Laplacian spectral radius for various graphs. For instance, the complete graphs, general graphs with chromatic number at least three, complete bipartite graphs, odd cycles, even cycles, color-critical graphs and intersecting triangles. The second goal is to conclude some recent results of the spectral conditions on some graphical properties. By a unified method, we present some sufficient conditions based on the adjacency spectral radius and the signless Laplacian spectral radius for a graph to be Hamiltonian, $k$-Hamiltonian, $k$-edge-Hamiltonian, traceable, $k$-path-coverable, $k$-connected, $k$-edge-connected, Hamilton-connected, perfect matching and $β$-deficient.

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arXiv2022

Spectral radius and the $2$-power of Hamilton cycles

Let $G$ be a graph of order $n$ and spectral radius be the largest eigenvalue of its adjacency matrix, denoted by $μ(G)$. In this paper, we determine the unique graph with maximum spectral radius among all graphs of order $n$ without containing the $2$-power of a Hamilton cycle.

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arXiv2021

Extensions of Brunn-Minkovski's inequality to multiple matrices

Yuan and Leng (2007) gave a generalization of Ky Fan's determinantal inequality, which is a celebrated refinement of the fundamental Brunn-Minkowski inequality $(\det (A+B))^{1/n} \ge (\det A)^{1/n} +(\det B)^{1/n}$, where $A$ and $B$ are positive semidefinite matrices. In this note, we first give an extension of Yuan-Leng's result to multiple positive definite matrices, and then we further extend the result to a larger class of matrices whose numerical ranges are contained in a sector. Our result improves a recent result of Liu [Linear Algebra Appl. 508 (2016) 206--213].

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arXiv2021

The Q-index and connectivity of graphs

A connected graph $G$ is said to be $k$-connected if it has more than $k$ vertices and remains connected whenever fewer than $k$ vertices are deleted. In this paper, for a connected graph $G$ with sufficiently large order, we present a tight sufficient condition for $G$ with fixed minimum degree to be $k$-connected based on the $Q$-index. Our result can be viewed as a spectral counterpart of the corresponding Dirac type condition.

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