English

On the intersection density of the symmetric group acting on uniform subsets of small size

Combinatorics 2022-01-25 v1

Abstract

Given a finite transitive group GSym(Ω)G\leq \operatorname{Sym}(\Omega), a subset F\mathcal{F} of GG is \emph{intersecting} if any two elements of F\mathcal{F} agree on some element of Ω\Omega. The \emph{intersection density} of GG, denoted by ρ(G)\rho(G), is the maximum of the rational number F(GΩ)1|\mathcal{F}|\left(\frac{|G|}{|\Omega|}\right)^{-1} when F\mathcal{F} runs through all intersecting sets in GG. In this paper, we prove that if GG is the group Sym(n)\operatorname{Sym}(n) or Alt(n)\operatorname{Alt}(n) acting on the kk-subsets of {1,2,3,n}\{1,2,3\ldots,n\}, for k{3,4,5}k\in \{3,4,5\}, then ρ(G)=1\rho(G)=1. Our proof relies on the representation theory of the symmetric group and the ratio bound.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2201.09727,
  title  = {On the intersection density of the symmetric group acting on uniform subsets of small size},
  author = {Angelot Behajaina and Roghayeh Maleki and Andriaherimanana Sarobidy Razafimahatratra},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2201.09727},
  year   = {2022}
}

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31 pages