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Qizhong Lin

Publications and source records attributed to Qizhong Lin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

The Ramsey threshold for trees versus odd cycles

A longstanding fundamental problem of Burr, Erd\H{o}s, Faudree, Rousseau and Schelp (\emph{Trans. Amer. Math. Soc.}, 1982) is to determine the exact value of the least integer $f(m)$, for odd $m\ge3$, such that every tree $T_n$ on $n\ge f(m)$ vertices satisfies $R(T_n,C_m)=2n-1$. We settle this problem for all sufficiently large odd $m$. Indeed, we establish $$f(m)=\left\lceil \frac{2m-1}{3} \right\rceil$$ for all such $m$, where the lower bound follows from a result by Faudree, Lawrence, Parsons and Schelp. This also confirms a conjecture of Huang, Zhang and Chen for all such $m$.

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Hypergraph Erd\H{o}s--Rogers functions with consecutive clique sizes

For integers \(k\le s<t\), the hypergraph Erd\H{o}s--Rogers function \(f^{(k)}_{s,t}(n)\) is the largest integer \(m\) such that every \(n\)-vertex \(K_t^{(k)}\)-free \(k\)-graph contains a set of \(m\) vertices spanning no copy of \(K_s^{(k)}\). We prove that, for every fixed \(s\ge4\), \[ f^{(4)}_{s,s+1}(n)=(\log n)^{o(1)}, \] thereby resolving a problem posed by Conlon, Fox and Sudakov. The key input is a new \(3\)-uniform estimate: for every fixed \(s\ge3\), \(f^{(3)}_{s,s+1}(n)=O(\frac{\log n}{\log\log n})\), which improves the logarithmic upper bound of Dudek and Mubayi. The proof develops a probabilistic pair-coloring construction based on a robust auxiliary palette and hypergraph containers. As a further consequence, we obtain \(f^{(k)}_{k+1,k+2}(n)=(\log_{(k-3)} n)^{o(1)}\) for every fixed \(k\ge5\), making substantial progress towards a conjecture of Mubayi and Suk.

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Tight connectivity and shadow densities in generalized Erd\H{o}s--Rogers problems

Let \(F\) and \(G\) be \(r\)-uniform hypergraphs, and let \(f_{F,G}(n)\) be the largest integer \(m\) such that every \(n\)-vertex \(G\)-free \(r\)-graph contains an induced \(F\)-free subgraph on \(m\) vertices. We prove that, for \(r\ge3\) and \(2\le k\le r-1\), if \(F\) is nonempty, \(G\) is \(k\)-tightly connected, and there is no homomorphism from \(G\) to \(F\) (that is, \(G\not\to F\)), then \[ f_{F,G}(n)\le C(\log n)^{\beta_F^{(k)}}, \qquad \beta_F^{(k)}= \max_{\emptyset\ne P\subseteq\partial_kF} \frac{e(P)}{v(P)-1}. \] The case \(r=3\) of our result resolves a conjecture of He and Nie. As a consequence, we obtain the Ramsey lower bound \(r(G,K_n^r)\ge2^{\Omega\bigl(n^{(r-1)/\binom rk}\bigr)}\) for every \(k\)-tightly connected non-\(r\)-partite \(r\)-graph \(G\). This extends a result of Conlon, Fox, Gunby, He, Mubayi, Suk, Verstra\"ete and Yu from the \(3\)-uniform setting.

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Book Ramsey numbers via algebraic constructions

Let $B_n$ denote the book graph consisting of $n$ triangles sharing a common edge. Few exact values of $R(B_n,B_n)$ have been obtained since Rousseau and Sheehan (1978) proved, using Paley graphs, $R(B_n, B_n) = 4n + 2$ whenever $4n+1$ is a prime power. In this paper, we obtain $R(B_n,B_n)=4n+1$ for infinitely many $n$ by constructing new families of strongly regular graphs. Moreover, we prove that $R(B_{n-2},B_n)\le 4n-3$ for every $n\ge 3$ with $n\ne 6$, removing the original condition $n\equiv 2\pmod 3$ due to Rousseau and Sheehan. In particular, if there exists a symmetric Hadamard matrix of order $2n-2$ with all diagonal entries equal to $1$, then $R(B_{n-2},B_n)=4n-3$. As an application, we show that this equality holds for every $n=2^{2\ell-1}+1$ with $\ell\ge 1$.

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Sharper Ramsey lower bounds from refined Gaussian estimates

Recently, Ma, Shen and Xie broke the Erd\H{o}s barrier for off-diagonal Ramsey numbers $R(\ell,C\ell)$, achieving the first exponential improvement over the classical lower bound for every $C>1$ and sufficiently large $\ell$. Hunter, Milojevi\'{c}, and Sudakov later gave a simplified proof using Gaussian random graphs and obtained better quantitative bounds. In this paper we prove a further improvement, and show that the exponent in the Ramsey lower bound can be increased by a strictly positive amount for every fixed $C>1$; as $C\to\infty$, the gain is asymptotically $\Theta(p_C^{-1/2}/\log C)$. The improvement is achieved by replacing the subgaussian estimate for truncated Gaussians with a sharp cumulant generating function bound.

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An improved double-exponential lower bound for $r_4(5,n)$

The Ramsey number $r_k(s,n)$ is the smallest integer $N$ such that every $N$-vertex $k$-graph contains either a copy of $K_s^{(k)}$ or an independent set of size $n$. A well-known conjecture of Erd\H{o}s and Hajnal states that for any fixed $4\le k<s$, $r_k(s,n)\ge \operatorname{twr}_{k-1}(\Omega(n)).$ At present, only the last two cases of this conjecture remain open, namely $r_4(5,n)\ge2^{2^{\Omega(n)}}$ and $r_4(6,n)\ge2^{2^{\Omega(n)}}$. Recently, Du, Hu, Liu, and Wang achieved a breakthrough by proving $r_4(5,n)\ge 2^{2^{\Omega(n^{1/7})}}$, which is the first double-exponential lower bound for $r_4(5,n)$. In this note, we improve this to $2^{2^{\Omega(n^{1/5})}}$ by modifying their construction and reducing the greedy selection of local maxima from seven layers to five, thereby making further progress towards the Erd\H{o}s-Hajnal conjecture.

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Ramsey lower bounds for bounded degree hypergraphs

We prove that for all $k \ge 3$ and any integers $\Delta, n$ with $n \ge 2^\Delta,$ there exists a $k$-graph on $n$ vertices with maximum degree at most $\Delta$ such that $r(H)\geq\tw_{k-1}(c_k \Delta) \cdot n$ for some constant $c_k > 0$, where $\tw_k$ denotes the tower function. This makes the first progress toward a problem proposed by Conlon, Fox, and Sudakov (2009), who asked whether $r(H)\geq\tw_{k}(c_k \Delta) \cdot n$ holds. Our proof relies on a novel construction of a $k$-graph on a growing number of vertices $n$ while keeping the maximum degree bounded by a fixed $\Delta$.

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Ramsey numbers of K_s + mK_t versus K_n

For integers m >= 1, s >= 0, and t >= 1, let K_s + mK_t denote the join of a clique K_s and m vertex-disjoint copies of K_t. We prove that for fixed m >= 1, t >= 1, and s >= 0, R(K_s + mK_t, K_n) = O( n^{s+t-1} / (log n)^{s+t-2} ). This settles a problem proposed by Liu and Li (2026). Moreover, for (s,t) = (0,3) the bound is tight up to a constant factor, matching the classical result R(K_3, K_n) = Theta( n^2 / log n ) of Kim (1995).

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Ramsey numbers of long even cycles versus books

For any positive integers $k$ and $n$, let $B_n^{(k)}$ be the book graph consisting of $n$ copies of the complete graph $K_{k+1}$ sharing a common $K_k$. Let $C_m$ be a cycle of length $m$. Prior work by Allen, \L uczak, Polcyn, and Zhang (2023) established the Ramsey number $R(C_{m},B_n^{(1)})$ for all sufficiently large even integer $m = \Omega(n^{9/10})$. Recently, Hu, Lin, {\L}uczak, Ning, and Peng (2025) obtained the exact value of $R(C_{m},B_n^{(2)})$ under the same asymptotic conditions. A natural problem is to determine the exact value of $R(C_{m},B_n^{(k)})$ for each fixed $k\ge3$ under similar conditions. This paper provides a complete solution to this problem. The lower bound is proved by an explicit construction, while the tight upper bound is established by analyzing the corresponding Ramsey graph using semi-random ideas.

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Asymptotically optimal Ramsey goodness of sparse graphs versus odd cycles and paths

A fundamental problem in graph Ramsey theory is to determine, for sparse graphs $G$ on $n$ vertices, the minimal $n$ such that $G$ is Ramsey-good for odd cycles $C_k$ and paths $P_k$. Burr, Erd\H{o}s, Faudree, Rousseau, and Schelp (Trans. AMS 1982) addressed this problem, establishing bounds requiring $n = \Omega(k^{10})$ for odd cycles and $n = \Omega(k^{12})$ for paths. We settle the asymptotic version of this problem, proving that these bounds are essentially tight: $n = \Omega(k)$ suffices for odd cycles and $n = \Omega(k^2)$ (or $n = \Omega(k)$ under additional conditions) for paths. Specifically, we prove: (1) For odd cycles $C_k$ ($k\ge3$), we prove $r(G, C_k) = 2n-1$ for any connected $n$-vertex graph $G$ satisfying the relaxed conditions $n = \Omega(k)$ and $e(G) \le (1 + O(1/k^2)) n$. (2) For paths $P_k$ ($k\ge2$), we prove $r(G, P_k) = \max\{ n + \lfloor k/2\rfloor - 1, n + k - 2 - \alpha' - \gamma \}$ for any connected $n$-vertex graph $G$ satisfying one of the following: (i) $n = \Omega(k^2)$ and $e(G) \le (1 + O(1/k^2)) n$; (ii) $n = \Omega(k)$, $\delta(G)\ge2$, $\alpha'\geq k/2$, and $e(G) \le (1 + O(1/k)) n$. In the above, $\alpha'$ is the independence number of an appropriate subgraph of $G$ and $\gamma=0$ if $k-1$ divides $n+k-3-\alpha'$, and $\gamma=1$ otherwise. Consequently, our results unify and generalize classical theorems on odd cycles due to Bondy and Erd\H{o}s (1973), Faudree and Schelp (1974), and Rosta (1973), and on paths due to Gerencs\'er and Gy\'arf\'as (1967), Faudree, Lawrence, Parsons and Schelp (1974), and Parsons (1974). The proofs feature two key innovations: a novel reconstruction of the end-edge matching and an enhancement of Burr et al.'s dichotomy lemma.

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The Ramsey number of the 4-cycle versus a book graph

Given positive integers $n$ and $k$, the book graph $B_n^{(k)}$ consists of $n$ copies of $K_{k+1}$ sharing a common $K_k$. The book graph is a common generalization of a star and a clique, which can be seen by taking $k=1$ and $n=1$ respectively. In addition, the Ramsey number of a book graph is closely related to the diagonal Ramsey number. Thus the study of extremal problems related to the book graph is of substantial significance. In this paper, we aim to investigate the Ramsey number $r(C_4,B_n^{(k)})$ which is the smallest integer $N$ such that for any graph $G$ on $N$ vertices, either $G$ contains $C_4$ as a subgraph or the complement $\overline{G}$ contains $B_n^{(k)}$ as a subgraph. For $k=1$, a pioneer work by Parsons ({\it Trans.~Amer.~Math.~Soc.,} 209 (1975), 33--44) gives an upper bound for $r(C_4,B_n^{(1)})$, which is tight for infinitely many $n$. For $k=2$, in a recent paper ({\em J. Graph Theory,} 103 (2023), 309--322), the second, the third, and the fourth authors obtained the exact value of $r(C_4,B_{n}^{(2)})$ for infinitely many $n$. The goal of this paper is to prove a similar result for each integer $k \geq 3$. To be precise, given an integer $k \geq 3$ and a constant $0<\varepsilon<1$, let $n=q^2-kq+t+\binom{k}{2}-k$ and $Q(k,\varepsilon)=(320k^4)^{k+1}/\varepsilon^{2k}$, where $1 \leq t \leq (1-\varepsilon)q$. We first establish an upper bound for $r(C_4,B_n^{(k)})$ provided $q \geq Q(k,\varepsilon)$. Then we show the upper bound is tight for $q \geq Q(k,\varepsilon)$ being a prime power and $1 \leq t \leq (1-\varepsilon)q$ under some assumptions. The proof leverages on a simple but novel refinement of a well-known inequality related to a $C_4$-free graph. Therefore, for each $k \geq 3$, we obtain the exact value of $r(C_4,B_n^{(k)})$ for infinitely many $n$. Moreover, we prove general upper and lower bounds of $r(C_4,B_n^{(k)})$ for $k \geq 3$.

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Phase transitions of the Erd\H{o}s-Gy\'{a}rf\'{a}s function

Given positive integers $p,q$. For any integer $k\ge2$, an edge coloring of the complete $k$-graph $K_n^{(k)}$ is said to be a $(p,q)$-coloring if every copy of $K_p^{(k)}$ receives at least $q$ colors. The Erd\H{o}s-Gy\'{a}rf\'{a}s function $f_k(n,p,q)$ is the minimum number of colors that are needed for $K_n^{(k)}$ to have a $(p,q)$-coloring. Conlon, Fox, Lee and Sudakov (\emph{IMRN, 2015}) conjectured that for any positive integers $p, k$ and $i$ with $k\ge3$ and $1\le i<k$, $f_k(n,p,{{p-i}\choose{k-i}})=(\log_{(i-1)}n)^{o(1)}$, where $\log_{(i)}n$ is an iterated $i$-fold logarithm in $n$. It has been verified to be true for $k=3, p=4, i=1$ by Conlon et. al (\emph{IMRN, 2015}), for $k=3, p=5, i=2$ by Mubayi (\emph{JGT, 2016}), and for all $k\ge 4, p=k+1,i=1$ by B. Janzer and O. Janzer (\emph{JCTB, 2024}). In this paper, we give new constructions and show that this conjecture holds for infinitely many new cases, i.e., it holds for all $k\ge4$, $p=k+2$ and $i=k-1$.

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New bounds of two hypergraph Ramsey problems

We focus on two hypergraph Ramsey problems. First, we consider the Erd\H{o}s-Hajnal function $r_k(k+1,t;n)$. In 1972, Erd\H{o}s and Hajnal conjectured that the tower growth rate of $r_k(k+1,t;n)$ is $t-1$ for each $2\le t\le k$. To finish this conjecture, it remains to show that the tower growth rate of $r_4(5,4;n)$ is three. We prove a superexponential lower bound for $r_4(5,4;n)$, which improves the previous best lower bound $r_4(5,4;n)\geq 2^{\Omega(n^2)}$ from Mubayi and Suk (\emph{J. Eur. Math. Soc., 2020}). Second, we prove an upper bound for the hypergraph Erd\H{o}s-Rogers function $f^{(k)}_{k+1,k+2}(N)$ that is an iterated $(k-3)$-fold logarithm in $N$ for each $k\geq 5$. This improves the previous upper bound that is an iterated $(k-13)$-fold logarithm in $N$ for $k\ge14$ due to Mubayi and Suk (\emph{J. London Math. Soc., 2018}), in which they conjectured that $f^{(k)}_{k+1,k+2}(N)$ is an iterated $(k-2)$-fold logarithm in $N$ for each $k\ge3$.

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A step towards the Ramsey-Tur\'{a}n conjecture for $K_3$ and $K_6$

Ramsey-Tur\'{a}n type problems were initiated by Erd\H{o}s and S\'{o}s in 1969. Given integers $p, q\ge2$, a graph $G$ is $(K_p,K_q)$-free if there exists a red/blue edge coloring of $G$ such that it contains neither a red $K_p$ nor a blue $K_q$. For any $\delta>0$, the Ramsey-Tur\'{a}n number $RT( {n,p,q,\delta n)} $ is the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex $(K_p,K_q)$-free graph with independence number at most $\delta n$. Let $\rho (p, q,\delta ) = \mathop {\lim }\limits_{n \to \infty } \frac{RT(n,p, q,\delta n)}{n^2}$. Kim, Kim and Liu (2019) showed that $\rho(3,6,\delta)\ge \frac{5}{12}+\frac{\delta}{2}+2\delta^2$ via a skillful construction and conjectured the equality holds for sufficiently small $\delta>0$. Using Szemer\'{e}di's regularity lemma and a stability argument, we make the first step towards the conjecture by showing that $\rho(3,6,\delta)$ is at most $\frac{5}{{12}} + \frac{\delta }{2}+ 2.1025\delta ^2$.

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Two Ramsey-Turán numbers involving triangles

Given integers $p, q\ge2$, we say that a graph $G$ is $(K_p,K_q)$-free if there exists a red/blue edge coloring of $G$ such that it contains neither a red $K_p$ nor a blue $K_q$. Fix a function $f( n )$, the Ramsey-Turán number $RT( {n,p,q,f( n ))} $ is the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex $(K_p,K_q)$-free graph with independence number at most $f( n )$. For any $δ>0$, let $ρ(p, q,δ) = \mathop {\lim }\limits_{n \to \infty } \frac{RT(n,p, q,δn)}{n^2}$. We always call $ρ(p, q):= \mathop {\lim }\limits_{δ\to 0}ρ(p, q,δ)$ the Ramsey-Turán density of $K_p$ and $K_q$. In 1993, Erdős, Hajnal, Simonovits, Sós and Szemerédi proposed to determine the value of $ρ(3,q)$ for $q\ge3$, and they conjectured that for $q \ge 2$, $ρ\left( {3,2q - 1} \right) = \frac{1}{2}(1 - \frac{1}{r(3,q) - 1})$. Recently, Kim, Kim and Liu (2019) conjectured that for $q \ge 2$, $ρ( {3,2q } ) = \frac{1}{2}( 1 - \frac{1}{r( {3,q} )})$. Erdős et al. (1993) determined $ρ(3,q)$ for $q=3,4,5$ and $ρ(4,4)$. There is no progress on the Ramsey-Turán density $ρ(p, q)$ in the past thirty years. In this paper, we obtain $ρ(3,6)=\frac{5}{12}$ and $ρ(3,7)=\frac{7}{16}$. Moreover, we show that the corresponding asymptotically extremal structures are weakly stable, which answers a problem of Erdős et al. (1993) for the two cases.

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On a conjecture of Conlon, Fox and Wigderson

For graphs $G$ and $H$, the Ramsey number $r(G,H)$ is the smallest positive integer $N$ such that any red/blue edge coloring of the complete graph $K_N$ contains either a red $G$ or a blue $H$. A book $B_n$ is a graph consisting of $n$ triangles all sharing a common edge. Recently, Conlon, Fox and Wigderson conjectured that for any $0<\alpha<1$, the random lower bound $r(B_{\lceil\alpha n\rceil},B_n)\ge (\sqrt{\alpha}+1)^2n+o(n)$ is not tight. In other words, there exists some constant $\beta>(\sqrt{\alpha}+1)^2$ such that $r(B_{\lceil\alpha n\rceil},B_n)\ge \beta n$ for all sufficiently large $n$. This conjecture holds for every $\alpha< 1/6$ by a result of Nikiforov and Rousseau from 2005, which says that in this range $r(B_{\lceil\alpha n\rceil},B_n)=2n+3$ for all sufficiently large $n$. We disprove the conjecture of Conlon, Fox and Wigderson. Indeed, we show that the random lower bound is asymptotically tight for every $1/4\leq \alpha\leq 1$. Moreover, we show that for any $1/6\leq \alpha\le 1/4$ and large $n$, $r(B_{\lceil\alpha n\rceil}, B_n)\le\left(\frac 32+3\alpha\right) n+o(n)$, where the inequality is asymptotically tight when $\alpha=1/6$ or $1/4$. We also give a lower bound of $r(B_{\lceil\alpha n\rceil}, B_n)$ for $1/6\le\alpha< \frac{52-16\sqrt{3}}{121}\approx0.2007$, showing that the random lower bound is not tight, i.e., the conjecture of Conlon, Fox and Wigderson holds in this interval.

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Sharp Ramsey thresholds for large books

For graphs $G$ and $H$, let $G\to H$ signify that any red/blue edge coloring of $G$ contains a monochromatic $H$. Let $G(N,p)$ be the random graph of order $N$ and edge probability $p$. The Ramsey thresholds for fixed graphs have received most attention. In this paper, we consider the Ramsey thresholds in another angle. In particular, we will consider the sharp Ramsey threshold for the large book graph $B_n^{(k)}$, which consists of $n$ copies of $K_{k+1}$ all sharing a common $K_k$. In particular, for every fixed integer $k\ge 2$ and for any real $c>1$, let $N=c2^k n$. Then for any real $\gamma>0$, \[ \lim_{n\to \infty} \Pr(G(N,p)\to B_n^{(k)})= \left\{ \begin{array}{cl} 0 & \mbox{if $p\le\frac{1}{c^{1/k}}(1-\gamma)$,} \\ 1 & \mbox{if $p\ge\frac{1}{c^{1/k}}(1+\gamma)$}. \end{array} \right. \] This implies that $r(B_n^{(k)},B_n^{(k)})=2^kn+o(n)$, and hence especially extends the work of Conlon (2019) and the follow-up work of Conlon, Fox and Wigderson (2022) on book Ramsey numbers.

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Ramsey numbers of large even cycles and fans

For graphs $F$ and $H$, the Ramsey number $R(F, H)$ is the smallest positive integer $N$ such that any red/blue edge coloring of $K_N$ contains either a red $F$ or a blue $H$. Let $C_n$ be a cycle of length $n$ and $F_n$ be a fan consisting of $n$ triangles all sharing a common vertex. In this paper, we prove that for all sufficiently large $n$, \[ R(C_{2\lfloor an\rfloor}, F_n)= \left\{ \begin{array}{ll} (2+2a+o(1))n & \textrm{if $1/2\leq a< 1$,}\\ (4a+o(1))n & \textrm{if $ a\geq 1$.} \end{array} \right. \]

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