An improved bound on the least common multiple of polynomial sequences

Cilleruelo conjectured that if $f\in\mathbb{Z}[x]$ of degree $d\ge 2$ is irreducible over the rationals, then $\log\operatorname{lcm}(f(1),\ldots,f(N))\sim(d-1)N\log N$ as $N\to\infty$. He proved it for the case $d = 2$. Very recently, Maynard and Rudnick proved there exists $c_d > 0$ with $\log\operatorname{lcm}(f(1),\ldots,f(N))\gtrsim c_d N\log N$, and showed one can take $c_d = \frac{d-1}{d^2}$. We give an alternative proof of this result with the improved constant $c_d = 1$. We additionally prove the bound $\log\operatorname{rad}\operatorname{lcm}(f(1),\ldots,f(N))\gtrsim\frac{2}{d}N\log N$ and make the stronger conjecture that $\log\operatorname{rad}\operatorname{lcm}(f(1),\ldots,f(N))\sim (d-1)N\log N$ as $N\to\infty$

A reverse Sidorenko inequality

Let $H$ be a graph allowing loops as well as vertex and edge weights. We prove that, for every triangle-free graph $G$ without isolated vertices, the weighted number of graph homomorphisms $\hom(G, H)$ satisfies the inequality $$\hom(G, H ) \le \prod_{uv \in E(G)} \hom(K_{d_u,d_v}, H )^{1/(d_ud_v)},$$ where $d_u$ denotes the degree of vertex $u$ in $G$. In particular, one has $$\hom(G, H )^{1/|E(G)|} \le \hom(K_{d,d}, H )^{1/d^2}$$ for every $d$-regular triangle-free $G$. The triangle-free hypothesis on $G$ is best possible. More generally, we prove a graphical Brascamp-Lieb type inequality, where every edge of $G$ is assigned some two-variable function. These inequalities imply tight upper bounds on the partition function of various statistical models such as the Ising and Potts models, which includes independent sets and graph colorings. For graph colorings, corresponding to $H = K_q$, we show that the triangle-free hypothesis on $G$ may be dropped; this is also valid if some of the vertices of $K_q$ are looped. A corollary is that among $d$-regular graphs, $G = K_{d,d}$ maximizes the quantity $c_q(G)^{1/|V(G)|}$ for every $q$ and $d$, where $c_q(G)$ counts proper $q$-colorings of $G$. Finally, we show that if the edge-weight matrix of $H$ is positive semidefinite, then $$\hom(G, H) \le \prod_{v \in V(G)} \hom(K_{d_v+1}, H )^{1/(d_v+1)}.$$ This implies that among $d$-regular graphs, $G = K_{d+1}$ maximizes $\hom(G, H)^{1/|V(G)|}$. For 2-spin Ising models, our results give a complete characterization of extremal graphs: complete bipartite graphs maximize the partition function of 2-spin antiferromagnetic models and cliques maximize the partition function of ferromagnetic models. These results settle a number of conjectures by Galvin-Tetali, Galvin, and Cohen-Csikv\'ari-Perkins-Tetali, and provide an alternate proof to a conjecture by Kahn.Comment: 30 page

Exponential improvements for superball packing upper bounds

We prove that for all fixed $p > 2$, the translative packing density of unit $\ell_p$-balls in $\mathbb{R}^n$ is at most $2^{(\gamma_p + o(1))n}$ with $\gamma_p < - 1/p$. This is the first exponential improvement in high dimensions since van der Corput and Schaake (1936)

Local limit theorems for subgraph counts

We introduce a general framework for studying anticoncentration and local limit theorems for random variables, including graph statistics. Our methods involve an interplay between Fourier analysis, decoupling, hypercontractivity of Boolean functions, and transference between ``fixed-size'' and ``independent'' models. We also adapt a notion of ``graph factors'' due to Janson. As a consequence, we derive a local central limit theorem for connected subgraph counts in the Erd\H{o}s-Renyi random graph $G(n,p)$, building on work of Gilmer and Kopparty and of Berkowitz. These results improve an anticoncentration result of Fox, Kwan, and Sauermann and partially answers a question of Fox, Kwan, and Sauermann. We also derive a local limit central limit theorem for induced subgraph counts, as long as $p$ is bounded away from a set of ``problematic'' densities, partially answering a question of Fox, Kwan, and Sauermann. We then prove these restrictions are necessary by exhibiting a disconnected graph for which anticoncentration for subgraph counts at the optimal scale fails for all constant $p$, and finding a graph $H$ for which anticoncentration for induced subgraph counts fails in $G(n,1/2)$. These counterexamples resolve anticoncentration conjectures of Fox, Kwan, and Sauermann in the negative. Finally, we also examine the behavior of counts of $k$-term arithmetic progressions in subsets of $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ and deduce a local limit theorem wherein the behavior is Gaussian at a global scale but has nontrivial local oscillations (according to a Ramanujan theta function). These results improve on results of and answer questions of the authors and Berkowitz, and answer a question of Fox, Kwan, and Sauermann

Subgraph distributions in dense random regular graphs

Given connected graph $H$ which is not a star, we show that the number of copies of $H$ in a dense uniformly random regular graph is asymptotically Gaussian, which was not known even for $H$ being a triangle. This addresses a question of McKay from the 2010 International Congress of Mathematicians. In fact, we prove that the behavior of the variance of the number of copies of $H$ depends in a delicate manner on the occurrence and number of cycles of length $3,4,5$ as well as paths of length $3$ in $H$. More generally, we provide control of the asymptotic distribution of certain statistics of bounded degree which are invariant under vertex permutations, including moments of the spectrum of a random regular graph. Our techniques are based on combining complex-analytic methods due to McKay and Wormald used to enumerate regular graphs with the notion of graph factors developed by Janson in the context of studying subgraph counts in $\mathbb{G}(n,p)$