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An Analogue of the Hilton-Milner Theorem for weak compositions

Combinatorics 2013-11-08 v1

Abstract

Let N0\mathbb N_0 be the set of non-negative integers, and let P(n,l)P(n,l) denote the set of all weak compositions of nn with ll parts, i.e., P(n,l)={(x1,x2,,xl)N0l : x1+x2++xl=n}P(n,l)=\{ (x_1,x_2,\dots, x_l)\in\mathbb N_0^l\ :\ x_1+x_2+\cdots+x_l=n\}. For any element u=(u1,u2,,ul)P(n,l)\mathbf u=(u_1,u_2,\dots, u_l)\in P(n,l), denote its iith-coordinate by u(i)\mathbf u(i), i.e., u(i)=ui\mathbf u(i)=u_i. A family AP(n,l)\mathcal A\subseteq P(n,l) is said to be tt-intersecting if {i : u(i)=v(i)}t\vert \{ i \ :\ \mathbf u(i)=\mathbf v(i)\} \vert\geq t for all u,vA\mathbf u,\mathbf v\in \mathcal A. A family AP(n,l)\mathcal A\subseteq P(n,l) is said to be trivially tt-intersecting if there is a tt-set TT of {1,2,,l}\{1,2,\dots,l\} and elements ysN0y_s\in \mathbb N_0 (sTs\in T) such that A={uP(n,l) : u(j)=yj forall jT}\mathcal{A}= \{\mathbf u\in P(n,l)\ :\ \mathbf u(j)=y_j\ {\rm for all}\ j\in T\}. We prove that given any positive integers l,tl,t with l2t+3l\geq 2t+3, there exists a constant n0(l,t)n_0(l,t) depending only on ll and tt, such that for all nn0(l,t)n\geq n_0(l,t), if AP(n,l)\mathcal{A} \subseteq P(n,l) is non-trivially tt-intersecting then \begin{equation} \vert \mathcal{A} \vert\leq {n+l-t-1 \choose l-t-1}-{n-1 \choose l-t-1}+t.\notag \end{equation} Moreover, equality holds if and only if there is a tt-set TT of {1,2,,l}\{1,2,\dots,l\} such that \begin{equation} \mathcal A=\bigcup_{s\in \{1,2,\dots, l\}\setminus T} \mathcal A_s\cup \left\{ \mathbf q_i\ :\ i\in T \right\},\notag \end{equation} where \begin{align} \mathcal{A}_s & =\{\mathbf u\in P(n,l)\ :\ \mathbf u(j)=0\ {\rm for all}\ j\in T\ {\rm and}\ \mathbf u(s)=0\}\notag \end{align} and qiP(n,l)\mathbf q_i\in P(n,l) with qi(j)=0\mathbf q_i(j)=0 for all j{1,2,,l}{i}j\in \{1,2,\dots, l\}\setminus \{i\} and qi(i)=n\mathbf q_i(i)=n.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.1311.1592,
  title  = {An Analogue of the Hilton-Milner Theorem for weak compositions},
  author = {Kok Bin Wong and Cheng Yeaw Ku},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1311.1592},
  year   = {2013}
}

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19 pages