Testing the Independent Set Property in Hypergraphs

Abstract

The optimal sample complexity of testing if an $n$-vertex graph has an independent set of size $ρn$, or is $\varepsilon$-far from having an independent set of size $ρn$, was established to be $\widetilde{O}(ρ^3/\varepsilon^2)$, in a notable result by Blais and Seth (SICOMP 2025). In contrast, for $q$-uniform hypergraphs, there is a significant gap between the best known upper and lower bounds, and there has been no progress on the problem for the last two decades. In this work, we prove a new upper bound of $\widetilde{O}\!\left(\frac{qρ^{2q-3}}{\varepsilon^2 (q-2)!^2}\right)$ on the sample complexity of testing the $ρ$-independent set property. The previous best known upper bound was $\widetilde{O}\!\left(\frac{2^q q! ρ^{2q}}{\varepsilon^3}\right)$, due to Langberg (RANDOM 2004). This establishes the optimal dependence on $\varepsilon$ and gives an exponential improvement in the dependence on $q$. We prove our result via a new application of the hypergraph container method.