English

Three-Edges and the SOS Rank of Biquadratic Forms: Extending the Augmented Zarankiewicz Framework

Combinatorics 2026-05-12 v1

Abstract

The limited augmented Zarankiewicz number zL(m,n)z_L(m,n) corresponds to 2-edges (i,j;k,l)(i,j;k,l) in a C4C_4-free bipartite graph, each representing a square (xiyj+xkyl)2(x_i y_j + x_k y_l)^2. We introduce \emph{3-edges} (i,j;k,l;p,q)(i,j;k,l;p,q) representing (xiyj+xkyl+xpyq)2(x_i y_j + x_k y_l + x_p y_q)^2, and define the numbers z3L(m,n)z_{3L}(m,n) and z3A(m,n)z_{3A}(m,n) by forbidding generalized C4C_4 cycles. We prove that for any 3-edge-augmented graph without such cycles, the corresponding doubly simple biquadratic form has SOS rank equal to the total number of edge contributions. As applications, we show z3L(5,3)=10z_{3L}(5, 3) = 10, z3L(6,4)16z_{3L}(6,4) \ge 16 and z3L(5,5)16z_{3L}(5,5) \ge 16, improving the known bounds zL(5,3)=9z_L(5, 3) = 9, zL(6,4)=14z_L(6,4)=14 and zL(5,5)=14z_L(5,5)=14. The constructions in the 5×55 \times 5 and 6×46 \times 4 cases are naturally explained as 3-edges, providing a unified combinatorial framework for SOS rank lower bounds beyond the limited augmented Zarankiewicz number.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.09926,
  title  = {Three-Edges and the SOS Rank of Biquadratic Forms: Extending the Augmented Zarankiewicz Framework},
  author = {Liqun Qi and Chunfeng Cui and Yi Xu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.09926},
  year   = {2026}
}