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Related papers: The structure of large intersecting families

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We consider families, $\mathcal{F}$ of $k$-subsets of an $n$-set. For integers $r\geq 2$, $t\geq 1$, $\mathcal{F}$ is called $r$-wise $t$-intersecting if any $r$ of its members have at least $t$ elements in common. The most natural…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-10-01 Peter Frankl , Jian Wang

We study intersecting families of words from the Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado perspective. When the alphabet size is $2$, a maximum intersecting family is not necessarily a star. However, we prove that every maximum $3$-wise intersecting family is a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-04-16 Shamil Asgarli , Chi Hoi Yip

A family of sets is intersecting if no two of its members are disjoint, and has the Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado property (or is EKR) if each of its largest intersecting subfamilies has nonempty intersection. Denote by $\mathcal{H}_k(n,p)$ the random…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2014-12-17 Arran Hamm , Jeff Kahn

A $k\ell$-subset partition, or $(k,\ell)$-subpartition, is a $k\ell$-subset of an $n$-set that is partitioned into $\ell$ distinct classes, each of size $k$. Two $(k,\ell)$-subpartitions are said to $t$-intersect if they have at least $t$…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2016-01-20 Adam Dyck , Karen Meagher

A family $\mathcal{F}$ on ground set $[n]:=\{1,2,\ldots, n\}$ is maximal $k$-wise intersecting if every collection of at most $k$ sets in $\mathcal{F}$ has non-empty intersection, and no other set can be added to $\mathcal{F}$ while…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-02-28 József Balogh , Ce Chen , Kevin Hendrey , Ben Lund , Haoran Luo , Casey Tompkins , Tuan Tran

Celebrated results often unfold like episodes in a long-running series. In the field of extremal set thoery, Erd\H{o}s, Ko, and Rado in 1961 established that any $k$-uniform intersecting family on $[n]$ has a maximum size of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-10-31 Gennian Ge , Zixiang Xu , Xiaochen Zhao

Let S(n) be the symmetric group on n points. A subset S of S(n) is intersecting if for any pair of permutations \pi, \sigma in S there is a point i in {1,...,n} such that \pi(i)=\sigma(i). Deza and Frankl \cite{MR0439648} proved that if S a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2007-10-12 Chris Godsil , Karen Meagher

We study $t$-intersecting and $t$-cross-intersecting families of $k$-dimensional subspaces in finite vector spaces of dimension $n$. We show that all large $t$-intersecting families admit a governing low-dimensional structure for $n \ge…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-05-05 Ferdinand Ihringer , Andrey Kupavskii

The Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado theorem states that for $r \leq \frac{n}{2}$, the largest intersecting family of $r$-subsets of $[n]$ is given by fixing a common element in all subsets, which trivially ensures pairwise intersection. We investigate…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-09-22 Zaphenath Joseph

Two families $\mathcal{A}$ and $\mathcal{B}$, of $k$-subsets of an $n$-set, are {\em cross $t$-intersecting} if for every choice of subsets $A \in \mathcal{A}$ and $B \in \mathcal{B}$ we have $|A \cap B| \geq t$. We address the following…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-03-17 Peter Frankl , Sang June Lee , Mark Siggers , Norihide Tokushige

The $t$-intersecting Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado theorem is the following statement: if $\mathcal{F} \subset \binom{[n]}{k}$ is a $t$-intersecting family of sets and $n\ge (t+1)(k-t+1)$, then $|\mathcal{F}| \le \binom{n-t}{k-t}$. The first proof of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-07-16 William Linz

Let $ k, n \in \mathbb{N}^+ $ and $ m \in \mathbb{N}^+ \cup \{\infty \} $. A $ k $-multiset in $ [n]_m $ is a $ k $-set whose elements are integers from $ \{1, 2, \ldots, n\} $, and each element is allowed to have at most $ m $ repetitions.…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-07-09 Jiaqi Liao , Zequn Lv , Mengyu Cao , Mei Lu

Let $ k, m, n $ be positive integers with $ k \geq 2 $. A $ k $-multiset of $ [n]_m $ is a collection of $ k $ integers from the set $ \{1, 2, \ldots, n\} $ in which the integers can appear more than once but at most $ m $ times. A family…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2023-03-14 Jiaqi Liao , Zequn Lv , Mengyu Cao , Mei Lu

Let F be a set system on [n] with all sets having k elements and every pair of sets intersecting. The celebrated theorem of Erdos-Ko-Rado from 1961 says that any such system has size at most ${n-1 \choose k-1}$. A natural question, which…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2013-05-30 Shagnik Das , Wenying Gan , Benny Sudakov

We give a Hilton-Milner Theorem for the $r$-independent sets in the graph that is the union of copies of $K_k$. That is, we determine the maximum intersecting families of $r$-independent sets in this graph, subject to the condition that the…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-11-25 Karen Gunderson , Karen Meagher , Joy Morris , Venkata Raghu Tej Pantangi

We give a canonical partition of shifted intersecting set systems, from which one can obtain unified and elementary proofs of the Erd\H{o}s-Ko-Rado and Hilton-Milner Theorem, as well as a characterization of maximal shifted $k$-uniform…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-06-28 Nguyen Trong Tuan , Nguyen Anh Thi

Let $k, r, n \geq 1$ be integers, and let $\S_{n, k, r}$ be the family of $r$-signed $k$-sets on $[n] = \{1, \dots, n\}$ given by $$ \mathcal{S}_{n, k, r} = \Big\{\{(x_1, a_1), \dots, (x_k, a_k)\}: \{x_1, \dots, x_k\} \in \binom{[n]}{k},…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-12-24 Carl Feghali

A family of subsets of $\{1,\ldots,n\}$ is called {\it intersecting} if any two of its sets intersect. A classical result in extremal combinatorics due to Erd\H{o}s, Ko, and Rado determines the maximum size of an intersecting family of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-11-30 Peter Frankl , Andrey Kupavskii

We develop a new approach to approximate families of sets, complementing the existing `$\Delta$-system method' and `junta approximations method'. The approach, which we refer to as `spread approximations method', is based on the notion of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-04-03 Andrey Kupavskii , Dmitriy Zakharov

A family of perfect matchings of $K_{2n}$ is $t$-$intersecting$ if any two members share $t$ or more edges. We prove for any $t \in \mathbb{N}$ that every $t$-intersecting family of perfect matchings has size no greater than $(2(n-t) -…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-11-16 Nathan Lindzey