English

Counterexamples to the Balogh-Linz-Patkós Conjecture

Combinatorics 2026-07-03 v1

Abstract

A set system F\mathcal{F} is called tt-intersecting if ABt|A\cap B|\ge t for every pair of sets A,BF.A,B\in \mathcal{F}. A set system F\mathcal{F} is kk-Sperner if it does not contain a chain of length k+1k+1. Balogh, Linz and Patk\'os (Combinatorial Theory, 2023) conjectured an extremal result for tt-intersecting kk-Sperner families when n+tn+t is odd. In this note we give an explicit construction that is tt-intersecting and kk-Sperner, and whose size exceeds that of the conjectured fixed-star construction for infinitely many values of nn. Consequently, we disprove the Balogh-Linz-Patk\'os conjecture for all t2t\ge 2 and k2k\ge 2 satisfying k(t1)t+1k(t-1)\ge t+1.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.03026,
  title  = {Counterexamples to the Balogh-Linz-Patkós Conjecture},
  author = {Jia-Bao Yang and Leilei Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.03026},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

8 pages, Comments welcome!