English

A rainbow $r$-partite version of the Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado theorem

Combinatorics 2016-05-24 v1

Abstract

Let f(n,r,k)f(n,r,k) be the minimal number such that every hypergraph larger than f(n,r,k)f(n,r,k) contained in ([n]r)\binom{[n]}{r} contains a matching of size kk, and let g(n,r,k)g(n,r,k) be the minimal number such that every hypergraph larger than g(n,r,k)g(n,r,k) contained in the rr-partite rr-graph [n]r[n]^{r} contains a matching of size kk. The Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado theorem states that f(n,r,2)=(n1r1)f(n,r,2)=\binom{n-1}{r-1}~~(rn2r \le \frac{n}{2}) and it is easy to show that g(n,r,k)=(k1)nr1g(n,r,k)=(k-1)n^{r-1}. The conjecture inspiring this paper is that if F1,F2,,Fk([n]r)F_1,F_2,\ldots,F_k\subseteq \binom{[n]}{r} are of size larger than f(n,r,k)f(n,r,k) or F1,F2,,Fk[n]rF_1,F_2,\ldots,F_k\subseteq [n]^{r} are of size larger than g(n,r,k)g(n,r,k) then there exists a rainbow matching, i.e. a choice of disjoint edges fiFif_i \in F_i. In this paper we deal mainly with the second part of the conjecture, and prove it for r3r\le 3. \vspace{.1cm} We also prove that for every rr and kk there exists n0=n0(r,k)n_0=n_0(r,k) such that the rr-partite version of the conjecture is true for n>n0n>n_0.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1605.06752,
  title  = {A rainbow $r$-partite version of the Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado theorem},
  author = {Ron Aharoni and David Howard},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1605.06752},
  year   = {2016}
}