Extremal formula for Berge-disjoint paths

Let ,r\ell,r be integers and let k2k\geq 2. Write

=+12.\ell'=\left\lfloor\frac{\ell+1}{2}\right\rfloor.

For an rr-uniform hypergraph, let exr(n,Berge-kP)\mathrm{ex}_r(n,\text{Berge-} kP_\ell) denote the maximum number of hyperedges in an nn-vertex hypergraph containing no Berge copy of kk vertex-disjoint paths of length \ell. The extremal formula for Berge-disjoint paths. There exists N,r,kN_{\ell,r,k} such that, whenever n>N,r,kn>N_{\ell,r,k} and 2rk+122\leq r\leq k\left\lfloor\frac{\ell+1}{2}\right\rfloor,

exr(n,Berge-kP)=(k1r1)(nk1+1)+(k1r)+Ir(k1r2).\mathrm{ex}_r(n,\text{Berge-} kP_\ell)=\binom{k\ell'-1}{r-1}(n-k\ell'-1+1)+\binom{k\ell'-1}{r}+\mathbb{I}_r\binom{k\ell'-1}{r-2}.

Here Ir\mathbb{I}_r is the indicator appearing in the stated formula. The conjecture proposes that the proved extremal result remains valid throughout the indicated wider range of rr; the source notes that the lower bound follows from a similar construction, while the upper bound remains to be established.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Xiamiao Zhao, Yiyan Zhan and Mei Lu, “Extremal results on Berge disjoint paths”, arXiv:2512.23382 (2026).

Progress summary

Never refreshed

Nothing recorded yet. Refresh searches the literature and the public web for attempts on this problem, and writes the first summary here.

Solutions 0

No solutions have been posted yet.