Idealness of k-wise intersecting families

Mathematical Programming - A clutter is k-wise intersecting if every k members have a common element, yet no element belongs to all members. We conjecture that, for some integer $$k\ge 4$$ , every...     

Enumeration of intersecting families

It is shown that the logarithm to the base 2 of the number of maximal intersecting families on m elements is asymptotically equal to ($\text{m?1}\text{n?1}$) where $\text{n = [}\text{1}\text{2}\text{m]}$.     

Uniformly cross intersecting families

Let A and B denote two families of subsets of an n-element set. The pair (A,B) is said to be ℓ-cross-intersecting iff |A∩B|=ℓ for all A∈ A and B∈B. Denote by P _e (n) the maximum value of |A||B| over all such pairs. The best known upper bound on P _e (n) is Θ(2 ⁿ ), by Frankl and R?dl. For a lower bound, Ahlswede, Cai and Zhang showed, for all n ≥ 2ℓ, a simple construction of an ℓ-cross-intersecting pair (A,B) with |A||B| = $ \left( {{*{20}c} {2\ell } \\ \ell \\ } \right) $ \left( {\begin{array}{*{20}c} {2\ell } \\ \ell \\ \end{array} } \right) 2 ^n−2ℓ = Θ(2 ⁿ /$ \sqrt \ell $ \sqrt \ell ), and conjectured that this is best possible. Consequently, Sgall asked whether or not P _e (n) decreases with ℓ.     

On families of intersecting sets

While algorithms exist which produce optimal binary trees, there are no direct formulas for the cost of such trees. In this note, we give a formula for the cost of the optimal binary tree built on m nodes with weights 1, 2, 3,…, m. The simplicity of this proof suggests that one can try to compute the cost of optimal trees for other special classes of weights.     

Game saturation of intersecting families

We consider the following combinatorial game: two players, Fast and Slow, claim k-element subsets of [n] = {1, 2, …, n} alternately, one at each turn, so that both players are allowed to pick sets that intersect all previously claimed subsets. The game ends when there does not exist any unclaimed k-subset that meets all already claimed sets. The score of the game is the number of sets claimed by the two players, the aim of Fast is to keep the score as low as possible, while the aim of Slow is to postpone the game’s end as long as possible. The game saturation numbers, gsat_F(II _n,k ) and gsat_S(II _n,k ), are the score of the game when both players play according to an optimal strategy in the cases when the game starts with Fast’s or Slow’s move, respectively. We prove that $\Omega _k (n^{k/3 - 5} ) \leqslant gsat_F (\mathbb{I}_{n,k} ),gsat_S (\mathbb{I}_{n,k} ) \leqslant O_k (n^{k - \sqrt {k/2} } )$ .     

Setwise intersecting families of permutations

A family of permutations A⊂Sn is said to be t-set-intersecting if for any two permutations σ,π∈A, there exists a t-set x whose image is the same under both permutations, i.e. σ(x)=π(x). We prove that if n is sufficiently large depending on t, the maximum-sized t-set-intersecting families of permutations in Sn are cosets of stabilizers of t-sets. The t=2 case of this was conjectured by János Körner. It can be seen as a variant of the Deza-Frankl conjecture, proved in Ellis, Friedgut and Pilpel (2011) [3]. Our proof uses similar techniques to those of Ellis, Friedgut and Pilpel (2011) [3], namely, eigenvalue methods, together with the representation theory of the symmetric group, but the combinatorial part of the proof is harder.     

On the kernel of intersecting families

Let be at-wises-intersecting family, i.e.,|F ₁ ... F _t | s holds for everyt members of. Then there exists a setY such that|F ₁ ... F _t Y| s still holds for everyF ₁,...,F _t . Here exponential lower and upper bounds are proven for the possible sizes ofY. This work was done while the authors visited Bell Communication Research, NJ 07960, and AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ 07974, USA, respectively.Research supported in part by Allon Fellowship and by Bat Sheva de Rothschild Foundation.     

On intersecting families of finite sets

Let X = [1, n] be a finite set of cardinality n and let $\text{F}$ be a family of k-subsets of X. Suppose that any two members of $\text{F}$ intersect in at least t elements and for some given positive constant c, every element of X is contained in less than c |$\text{F}$| members of $\text{F}$. How large |$\text{F}$| can be and which are the extremal families were problems posed by Erdös, Rothschild, and Szemerédi. In this paper we answer some of these questions for n > n₀(k, c). One of the results is the following: let $\text{t = 1,}\text{3}\text{7}\text{< c <}\text{1}\text{2}$. Then whenever $\text{F}$ is an extremal family we can find a 7-3 Steiner system $\text{B}$ such that $\text{F}$ consists exactly of those k-subsets of X which contain some member of $\text{B}$.     

On maximal intersecting families of finite sets

Let r be a positive integer. A finite family $\text{H}$ of pairwise intersecting r-sets is a maximal clique of order r, if for any set A ? $\text{H}$, |A| ? r there exists a member E ? $\text{H}$ such that $\text{A ∩ E = ?}$. For instance, a finite projective plane of order r ? 1 is a maximal clique. Let N(r) denote the minimum number of sets in a maximal clique of order r. We prove $\text{N(r) ?}\text{3}\text{4}\text{r}{}^2$ whenever a projective plane of order $\text{r}\text{2}$ exists. This disproves the known conjecture N(r) ? r² ? r + 1.     

Properties of intersecting families of ordered sets

The first part of this paper deals with families of ordered k-tuples having a common element in different position. A quite general theorem is given and special cases are considered. The second part deals with t families of sets with some intersection properties, and generalizes results by Bollobás, Frankl, Lovász and Füredi to this case.     

Listing minimal edge-covers of intersecting families with applications to connectivity problems

Let G=(V,E) be a directed/undirected graph, let s,t∈V, and let F be an intersecting family on V (that is, X∩Y,X∪Y∈F for any intersecting X,Y∈F) so that s∈X and t∉X for every X∈F. An edge set I⊆E is an edge-cover of F if for every X∈F there is an edge in I from X to V−X. We show that minimal edge-covers of F can be listed with polynomial delay, provided that, for any I⊆E the minimal member of the residual family F_I of the sets in F not covered by I can be computed in polynomial time. As an application, we show that minimal undirected Steiner networks, and minimal k-connected and k-outconnected spanning subgraphs of a given directed/undirected graph, can be listed in incremental polynomial time.     

Great intersecting families of edges in hereditary hypergraphs

Chvátal stated in 1972 the following conjecture: If $\text{H}$ is a hereditary hypergraph on S and $\text{M}$ ? $\text{H}$ is a family of maximum cardinality of pairwise intersecting members of $\text{H}$, then there exists an x ∈ S such that d_$\text{H}$(x) = |{H ∈ $\text{H}$: x ∈ H}| = |$\text{M}$|. Berge and Schönheim proved that |$\text{M}$|?$\text{1}\text{2}$|$\text{H}$| for every $\text{H}$ and $\text{M}$. Now we prove that if there exists an $\text{M}$ ? $\text{H}$, |$\text{M}$| = $\text{1}\text{2}$|$\text{H}$| then Chvátal's conjecture is true for this $\text{H}$.