VibeMathedMath problems solved with AI

A directed Erdős-Sós theorem for Eulerian digraphs

The Erdős-Sós conjecture, proved in 2026, says that a graph on nn vertices with more than k12n\tfrac{k-1}{2}n edges contains every tree with kk edges. The directed analogue asks for the arc bound forcing an Eulerian digraph on nn vertices to contain every oriented tree with tt edges. No tight bound was known, even for directed paths. Does more than (t1)n(t-1)n arcs suffice?

Result
Proved
Status
Resolved
AI contribution
AI-discovered
Method
Argument
Field
Extremal graph theory
Posed by
Not posed under a name; the directed analogue of the Erdős-Sós conjecture, with tight bounds previously unknown even for directed paths
Year posed
Years open
Solved
2026-09-10
Model
GPT-6 Astra
Vendor
OpenAI
Collaborators
Dhruv Mubayi, Jacques Verstraëte
Verification
Unreviewed
Publication
Preprint
Significance
20 / 100
Disclosed cost
Wikipedia
No dedicated article

What the AI did

The abstract states it directly: "The result was proved by GPT-6 Astra." The authors supplied the problem and the write-up.

Verification

Checked here on 22 September 2026 against arXiv:2609.10987: the abstract states that every Eulerian digraph on nn vertices with more than (t1)n(t-1)n arcs contains every oriented tree with tt edges, that the bound is sharp for each fixed oriented tree by disjoint unions of complete bidirected graphs, and that tight bounds were not previously known even for directed paths. It is described there as a directed analogue of the recently proved Erdős-Sós conjecture, which this catalog records as erdos-problem-548. The mathematics was not checked here; twelve days old, no referee.

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