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A Higher-Order Clique Density Theorem

Combinatorics 2026-07-07 v1

Abstract

Reiher's clique density theorem determines the sharp lower envelope for the density of KrK_r at fixed edge density. We prove a higher-order version in which the prescribed quantity is itself a clique density. For every 3s<r3\le s<r, we determine the minimum possible KrK_r-density among graphons with prescribed KsK_s-density. For s3s\ge3 the constraint is genuinely nonlinear and leaves the edge density undetermined; nevertheless, on the positive range the sharp lower boundary is the classical multipartite edge-to-clique profile, reparametrised by KsK_s-density. We also prove stability on the positive branches of this profile: at every interior point, near extremality forces cut-distance closeness to the corresponding extremal family at the induced edge density.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.06545,
  title  = {A Higher-Order Clique Density Theorem},
  author = {Heng Li and Hong Liu and Yixiao Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.06545},
  year   = {2026}
}

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15 pages