Planar Turán numbers of cycles: a counterexample (Q2170782)

Summary: The planar Turán number \(\text{ex}_{\mathcal{P}}(C_{\ell}, n)\) is the largest number of edges in an \(n\)-vertex planar graph with no \(\ell\)-cycle. For each \(\ell\in \{3,4,5,6\}\), upper bounds on \(\text{ex}_{\mathcal{P}}(C_{\ell}, n)\) are known that hold with equality infinitely often. \textit{D. Ghosh} et al. [SIAM J. Discrete Math. 36, No. 3, 2028--2050 (2022; Zbl 1496.05079)] conjectured an upper bound on \(\text{ex}_{\mathcal{P}}(C_{\ell},n)\) for every \(\ell\geqslant 7\) and \(n\) sufficiently large. We disprove this conjecture for every \(\ell\geqslant 11\). We also propose two revised versions of the conjecture.