English

A multipartite analogue of Dilworth's Theorem

Combinatorics 2024-01-02 v1 Discrete Mathematics

Abstract

We prove that every partially ordered set on nn elements contains kk subsets A1,A2,,AkA_{1},A_{2},\dots,A_{k} such that either each of these subsets has size Ω(n/k5)\Omega(n/k^{5}) and, for every i<ji<j, every element in AiA_{i} is less than or equal to every element in AjA_{j}, or each of these subsets has size Ω(n/(k2logn))\Omega(n/(k^{2}\log n)) and, for every iji \not = j, every element in AiA_{i} is incomparable with every element in AjA_{j} for iji\ne j. This answers a question of the first author from 2006. As a corollary, we prove for each positive integer hh there is ChC_h such that for any hh partial orders <1,<2,,<h<_{1},<_{2},\dots,<_{h} on a set of nn elements, there exists kk subsets A1,A2,,AkA_{1},A_{2},\dots,A_{k} each of size at least n/(klogn)Chn/(k\log n)^{C_{h}} such that for each partial order <<_{\ell}, either a1<a2<<aka_{1}<_{\ell}a_{2}<_{\ell}\dots<_{\ell}a_{k} for any tuple of elements (a1,a2,,ak)A1×A2××Ak(a_1,a_2,\dots,a_k) \in A_1\times A_2\times \dots \times A_k, or a1>a2>>aka_{1}>_{\ell}a_{2}>_{\ell}\dots>_{\ell}a_{k} for any (a1,a2,,ak)A1×A2××Ak(a_1,a_2,\dots,a_k) \in A_1\times A_2\times \dots \times A_k, or aia_i is incomparable with aja_j for any iji\ne j, aiAia_i\in A_i and ajAja_j\in A_j. This improves on a 2009 result of Pach and the first author motivated by problems in discrete geometry.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2401.00827,
  title  = {A multipartite analogue of Dilworth's Theorem},
  author = {Jacob Fox and Huy Tuan Pham},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.00827},
  year   = {2024}
}