Vanishing orders and zero degree Turán densities

Abstract

For integers $1\le \ell<k$, the $\ell$-degree Turán density $π_\ell(F)$ measures the minimum $\ell$-degree threshold that forces a copy of a fixed $k$-uniform hypergraph $F$, generalizing both the classical Turán density $π_1$ and the codegree Turán density $π_{k-1}$. Motivated by Erdős' characterization of $k$-graphs with zero Turán density, we study the structural implications of vanishing $\ell$-degree Turán density. We prove for every uniformity $k\ge 3$ that if $π_2(F)=0$, then $F$ admits a $2$-vanishing order-a global vertex ordering under which all edges align canonically. This provides a higher-degree analogue of the classical fact that $π_1(F)=0$ forces $k$-partiteness, and identifies a structural obstruction to vanishing $2$-degree Turán density. As an application, we show that, unlike $π_1$, $π_2$ accumulates at $0$. For $3\le \ell\le k-1$, we also obtain weaker necessary conditions for $π_\ell(F)=0$. The proof combines random geometric building blocks, a design-theoretic gluing scheme, and random sparsification to reconcile positive $2$-degree with local vanishing structure.

Theorems & Definitions (42)

• Definition 1.2: $\ell$-vanishing order
• Theorem 1.3: ding20243reiher2018hypergraphs
• Theorem 1.4
• Conjecture 1.5
• Theorem 1.6
• Theorem 1.8
• proof
• Lemma 2.1
• Lemma 2.2
• Proposition 2.3