English

On an Erd\H{o}s--Lov'asz problem: 3-critical 3-graphs of minimum degree 7

Discrete Mathematics 2026-01-01 v1 Combinatorics

Abstract

Erd\H{o}s and Lov'asz asked whether there exists a "3-critical" 3-uniform hypergraph in which every vertex has degree at least 7. The original formulation does not specify what 3-critical means, and two non-equivalent notions have appeared in the literature and in later discussions of the problem. In this paper we resolve the question under both interpretations. For the transversal interpretation (criticality with respect to the transversal number), we prove that a 3-uniform hypergraph HH with τ(H)=3\tau(H)=3 and τ(He)=2\tau(H-e)=2 for every edge ee has at most 10 edges; in particular, δ(H)6\delta(H)\le 6, and this bound is sharp, witnessed by the complete 3-graph K5(3)K^{(3)}_5. For the chromatic interpretation (criticality with respect to weak vertex-colourings), we give an explicit 3-uniform hypergraph on 9 vertices with χ(H)=3\chi(H)=3 and minimum degree δ(H)=7\delta(H)=7 such that deleting any single edge or any single vertex makes it 2-colourable. The criticality of the example is certified by explicit witness 2-colourings listed in the appendices, together with a short verification script.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.24850,
  title  = {On an Erd\H{o}s--Lov'asz problem: 3-critical 3-graphs of minimum degree 7},
  author = {Ruiliang Li},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.24850},
  year   = {2026}
}