The constant of point-line incidence constructions (Q6110067)

The Szemerédi-Trotter theorem asserts that for a set of \(L\) lines and a set of \(P\) points in the plane, the number of incidences between the points and the lines is at most \(O(|P|^{2/3}|L|^{2/3}+|P|+|L|)\). The interesting range is \(|L|=o(|P|^2)\), \(|P|=o(|L|^2)\), as outside of this range the linear terms are dominant. Much work was done on the upper bound. The current best upper bound \(2.44|P|^{2/3}|L|^{2/3}+|P|+|L|\) is due to \textit{E. Ackerman} [Comput. Geom. 85, Article ID 101574 31 p. (2019; Zbl 1439.05163)]. For a long time Erdős' grid construction provided for a lower bound, then Elekes gave a different grid construction. There is also a recent construction of Guth and Silier. The paper under review computes the (asymptotically) best constant for some ranges, which include both the Erdős and Elekes constructions: if \(1/3\leq \alpha\leq 1/2\), \(|L|=o(|P|^2)\), and \(|L|/|P|^{2-3\alpha}\rightarrow \infty\), then the number of incidences can reach \((c+o(1))|P|^{2/3}|L|^{2/3}\), where \(c=3\cdot (3\pi^2/4)^{1/3}\approx 1.27.\) Working out this constant requires substantial work on Euler's totient function.