Erdős and Lovász noticed that an $r$-uniform intersecting hypergraph $H$ with maximal covering number, that is $τ(H)=r$, must have at least $\frac{8}{3}r-3$ edges. There has been no improvement on this lower bound for 45 years. We try to understand the reason by studying some small cases to see whether the truth lies very close to this simple bound. Let $q(r)$ denote the minimum number of edges in an intersecting $r$-uniform hypergraph. It was known that $q(3)=6$ and $q(4)=9$. We obtain the following new results: The extremal example for uniformity 4 is unique. Somewhat surprisingly it is not symmetric by any means. For uniformity 5, $q(5)=13$, and we found 3 examples, none of them being some known graph. We use both theoretical arguments and computer searches. In the footsteps of Erdős and Lovász, we also consider the special case, when the hypergraph is part of a finite projective plane. We determine the exact answer for $r\in \{3,4,5,6\}$. For uniformity 6, there is a unique extremal example.
In a related question, we try to find $2$-intersecting $r$-uniform hypergraphs with maximal covering number, that is $τ(H)=r-1$. An infinite family of examples is to take all possible $r$-sets of a $(2r-2)$-vertex set. There is also a geometric candidate: biplanes. These are symmetric 2-designs with $λ=2$. We determined that only 3 biplanes of the 18 known examples are extremal.
We consider the Erd{ő}s - Faber - Lovász (EFL) conjecture for hypergraphs. This paper gives an upper bound for the chromatic number of $r$ regular linear hypergraphs $\textbf{H}$ of size $n$. If $r \ge 4$, $χ(\textbf{H}) \le 1.181n$ and if $r=3$, $χ(\textbf{H}) \le 1.281n$
The Erdős-Faber-Lovász conjecture (posed in 1972) states that the chromatic index of any linear hypergraph on $n$ vertices is at most $n$. In this paper, we prove this conjecture for every large $n$. We also provide stability versions of this result, which confirm a prediction of Kahn.
The long-standing Erdős-Faber-Lovász conjecture states that every $n$-uniform linear hypergaph with $n$ edges has a proper vertex-coloring using $n$ colors. In this paper we propose an algebraic framework to the problem and formulate a corresponding stronger conjecture. Using the Combinatorial Nullstellensatz, we reduce the Erdős-Faber-Lovász conjecture to the existence of non-zero coefficients in certain polynomials. These coefficients are in turn related to the number of orientations with prescribed in-degree sequences of some auxiliary graphs. We prove the existence of certain orientations,…
In this paper, we prove an enhanced version of the Erdős-Lovász Tihany Conjecture for line graphs of multigraphs. That is, for every graph $G$ whose chromatic number $χ(G)$ is more than its clique number $ω(G)$ and for nonnegative integer $\ell$, any two integers $s,t \geq 3.5\ell+2$ with $s+t = χ(G)+1$, there is a partition $(S,T)$ of the vertex set $V(G)$ such that $χ(G[S])\geq s$ and $χ(G[T])\geq t+\ell$. In particular, when $\ell=1$, we can obtain the same result just for any $s,t\geq4$. The Erdős-Lovász Tihany conjecture is a special case when $\ell=0$.
Let $s\ge2$ and $t\ge2$ be integers. A graph $G$ is $(s,t)$-\emph{splittable} if $V(G)$ can be partitioned into two sets $S$ and $T$ such that $χ(G[S])\geq s$ and $χ(G[T])\geq t$. The well-known Erdős-Lovász Tihany Conjecture from 1968 states that every graph $G$ whose chromatic number $χ(G)=s+t-1$ is more than its clique number $ω(G)$ is $(s,t)$-splittable. In this paper, we prove an enhanced version of the Erdős-Lovász Tihany Conjecture for graphs with independence number two. That is, for every graph $G$ with $χ(G)=s+t-1>ω(G)+1$ is $(s,t+1)$-splittable. There are examples showing that this …
A linear hypergraph is intersecting if any two different edges have exactly one common vertex and an $n$-quasicluster is an intersecting linear hypergraph with $n$ edges each one containing at most $n$ vertices and every vertex is contained in at least two edges. The Erdös-Faber-Lovász Conjecture states that the chromatic number of any $n$-quasicluster is at most $n$. In the present note we prove the correctness of the conjecture for a new infinite class of $n$-quasiclusters using a specific edge coloring of the complete graph.
The Erdős--Faber--Lovász Conjecture, posed in 1972, states that if a graph $G$ is the union of $n$ cliques of order $n$ (referred to as defining $n$-cliques) such that two cliques can share at most one vertex, then the vertices of $G$ can be properly coloured using $n$ colours. Although still open after almost 50 years, it can be easily shown that the conjecture is true when every shared vertex belongs to exactly two defining $n$-cliques. We here provide a quick and easy algorithm to colour the vertices of $G$ in this case, and discuss connections with clique-decompositions and edge-colourings…
In 1968, Erdös and Lovász conjectured that for every graph $G$ and all integers $s,t\geq 2$ such that $s+t-1=χ(G) > ω(G)$, there exists a partition $(S,T)$ of the vertex set of $G$ such that $χ(G|S)\geq s$ and $χ(G|T)\geq t$. For general graphs, the only settled cases of the conjecture are when $s$ and $t$ are small. Recently, the conjecture was proved for a few special classes of graphs: graphs with stability number 2 \cite{quasi-line}, line graphs \cite{line} and quasi-line graphs \cite{quasi-line}. In this paper, we consider the conjecture for claw-free graphs and present some progress on i…
A hole in a graph is an induced cycle of length at least $4$. Let $s\ge2$ and $t\ge2$ be integers. A graph $G$ is $(s,t)$-splittable if $V(G)$ can be partitioned into two sets $S$ and $T$ such that $χ(G[S ]) \ge s$ and $χ(G[T ]) \ge t$. The well-known Erdős-Lovász Tihany Conjecture from 1968 states that every graph $G$ with $ω(G) < χ(G) = s + t - 1$ is $(s,t)$-splittable. This conjecture is hard, and few related results are known. However, it has been verified to be true for line graphs, quasi-line graphs, and graphs with independence number $2$. In this paper, we establish more evidence for t…
In 1972, Erdös - Faber - Lovász (EFL) conjectured that, if $\textbf{H}$ is a linear hypergraph consisting of $n$ edges of cardinality $n$, then it is possible to color the vertices with $n$ colors so that no two vertices with the same color are in the same edge. In 1978, Deza, Erdös and Frankl had given an equivalent version of the same for graphs: Let $G= \bigcup _{i=1}^{n} A_i$ denote a graph with $n$ complete graphs $A_1, A_2,$ $ \dots , A_n$, each having exactly $n$ vertices and have the property that every pair of complete graphs has at most one common vertex, then the chromatic number of…
A decomposition of a simple graph $G$ is a pair $(G,P)$ where $P$ is a set of subgraphs of $G$, which partitions the edges of $G$ in the sense that every edge of $G$ belongs to exactly one subgraph in $P$. If the elements of $P$ are induced subgraphs then the decomposition is denoted by $[G,P]$. A $k$-$P$-coloring of a decomposition $(G,P)$ is a surjective function that assigns to the edges of $G$ a color from a $k$-set of colors, such that all edges of $H\in P$ have the same color, and, if $H_1,H_2\in P$ with $V(H_1)\cap V(H_2)\neq\emptyset$ then $E(H_1)$ and $E(H_2)$ have different colors. T…
We apply Fourier analysis on finite groups to obtain simplified formulations for the Lovász theta-number of a Cayley graph. We put these formulations to use by checking a few cases of a conjecture of Ellis, Friedgut, and Pilpel made in a recent article proving a version of the Erdős-Ko-Rado theorem for $k$-intersecting families of permutations. We also introduce a $q$-analog of the notion of $k$-intersecting families of permutations, and we verify a few cases of the corresponding Erdős-Ko-Rado assertion by computer.
For a hypergraph $H$, define its intersection spectrum $I(H)$ as the set of all intersection sizes $|E\cap F|$ of distinct edges $E,F\in E(H)$. In their seminal paper from 1973 which introduced the local lemma, Erdős and Lovász asked: how large must the intersection spectrum of a $k$-uniform $3$-chromatic intersecting hypergraph be? They showed that such a hypergraph must have at least three intersection sizes, and conjectured that the size of the intersection spectrum tends to infinity with $k$. Despite the problem being reiterated several times over the years by Erdős and other researchers, …
The triangle covering number of a graph is the minimum number of vertices that hit all triangles. Given positive integers $s,t$ and an $n$-vertex graph $G$ with $\lfloor n^2/4 \rfloor +t$ edges and triangle covering number $s$, we determine (for large $n$) sharp bounds on the minimum number of triangles in $G$ and also describe the extremal constructions. Similar results are proved for cliques of larger size and color critical graphs. This extends classical work of Rademacher, Erd\H os, and Lovász-Simonovits whose results apply only to $s \le t$. Our results also address two conjectures of Xia…
It follows from a theorem of Lovász that if $ D $ is a finite digraph with $ r\in V(D) $ then there is a spanning subdigraph $ E $ of $ D $ such that for every vertex $ v\neq r $ the following quantities are equal: the local connectivity from $ r $ to $ v $ in $ D $, the local connectivity from $ r $ to $ v $ in $ E $ and the indegree of $ v $ in $ E $. In infinite combinatorics cardinality is often an overly rough measure to obtain deep results and it is more fruitful to capture structural properties instead of just equalities between certain quantities. The best known example for such a resu…
In 1973 P. Erdős and L. Lovász noticed that any hypergraph whose edges are pairwise intersecting has chromatic number 2 or 3. In the first case, such hypergraph may have any number of edges. However, Erdős and Lovász proved that in the second case, the number of edges is bounded from above. For example, if a hypergraph is $ n $-uniform, has pairwise intersecting edges, and has chromatic number 3, then the number of its edges does not exceed $ n^n $. Recently D.D. Cherkashin improved this bound (see \cite{Ch}). In this paper, we further improve it in the case when the number of vertices of an $…
Intersecting and cross-intersecting families usually appear in extremal combinatorics in the vein of the Erd{\H o}s--Ko--Rado theorem. On the other hand, P.~Erd{\H o}s and L.~Lov{á}sz in the noted paper~\cite{EL} posed problems on coloring intersecting families as a restriction of classical hypergraph coloring problems to a special class of hypergraphs. This note deals with the mentioned coloring problems stated for cross-intersecting families.
Mantel's theorem states that every $n$-vertex graph with $\lfloor \frac{n^2}{4} \rfloor +t$ edges, where $t>0$, contains a triangle. The problem of determining the minimum number of triangles in such a graph is usually referred to as the Erdős-Rademacher problem. Lovász and Simonovits proved that there are at least $t\lfloor n/2 \rfloor$ triangles in each of those graphs. Katona and Xiao considered the same problem under the additional condition that there are no $s-1$ vertices covering all triangles. They settled the case $t=1$ and $s=2$. Solving their conjecture, we determine the minimum num…
Paul Erdős and László Lovász proved in a landmark article that, for any positive integer $k$, up to isomorphism there are only finitely many maximal intersecting families of $k-$sets (maximal $k-$cliques). So they posed the problem of determining or estimating the largest number $N(k)$ of the points in such a family. They also proved by means of an example that $N(k)\geq2k-2+\frac{1}{2}\binom{2k-2}{k-1}$. Much later, Zsolt Tuza proved that the bound is best possible up to a multiplicative constant by showing that asymptotically $N(k)$ is at most $4$ times this lower bound. In this paper we red…
Paul Erdős and László Lovász established by means of an example that there exists a maximal intersecting family of $k-$sets with approximately $(e-1)k!$ blocks. László Lovász conjectured that their example is best known example which has the maximum number of blocks. Later it was disproved. But the quest for such examples remain valid till this date. In this short note, by computing transversal size of a certain series of uniform intersecting families constructed over the cycle graph, we provide an example which has more than $(\frac{k}{2})^{k-1}$ (approximately) blocks.
Let $x_1, \ldots, x_n \in \mathbb{R}^d$ be unit vectors such that among any three there is an orthogonal pair. How large can $n$ be as a function of $d$, and how large can the length of $x_1 + \ldots + x_n$ be? The answers to these two celebrated questions, asked by Erdős and Lovász, are closely related to orthonormal representations of triangle-free graphs, in particular to their Lovász $\vartheta$-function and minimum semidefinite rank. In this paper, we study these parameters for general $H$-free graphs. In particular, we show that for certain bipartite graphs $H$, there is a connection bet…
What is the minimum number of triangles in a graph of given order and size? Motivated by earlier results of Mantel and Turán, Rademacher solved the first non-trivial case of this problem in 1941. The problem was revived by Erdős in 1955; it is now known as the Erdős-Rademacher problem. After attracting much attention, it was solved asymptotically in a major breakthrough by Razborov in 2008. In this paper, we provide an exact solution for all large graphs whose edge density is bounded away from~$1$, which in this range confirms a conjecture of Lovász and Simonovits from 1975. Furthermore, we gi…
Let $ H = (V,E) $ be a hypergraph. By the chromatic number of a hypergraph $ H = (V,E) $ we mean the minimum number $χ(H)$ of colors needed to paint all the vertices in $ V $ so that any edge $ e \in E $ contains at least two vertices of some different colors. Finally, a hypergraph is said to form a clique, if its edges are pairwise intersecting. In 1973 Erdős and Lovász noticed that if an $n$-uniform hypergraph $ H = (V,E) $ forms a clique, then $ χ(H) \in \{2,3\} $. They untoduced following quantity. $$ M(n) = \max \{|E|: \exists {\rm an} n-{\rm uniform} {\rm clique} H = (V,E) {\rm with} χ(H…
We prove that the vertices of every $(r + 1)$-uniform hypergraph with maximum degree $Δ$ may be coloured with $c(\fracΔ{d + 1})^{1/r}$ colours such that each vertex is in at most $d$ monochromatic edges. This result, which is best possible up to the value of the constant $c$, generalises the classical result of Erdős and Lovász who proved the $d = 0$ case.
Let $r(k)$ denote the maximum number of edges in a $k$-uniform intersecting family with covering number $k$. Erdős and Lovász proved that $ \lfloor k! (e-1) \rfloor \leq r(k) \leq k^k.$ Frankl, Ota, and Tokushige improved the lower bound to $r(k) \geq \left( k/2 \right)^{k-1}$, and Tuza improved the upper bound to $r(k) \leq (1-e^{-1}+o(1))k^k$. We establish that $ r(k) \leq (1 + o(1)) k^{k-1}$.
In this paper, we prove a generalization of a conjecture of Erdös, about the chromatic number of certain Kneser-type hypergraphs. For integers $n,k,r,s$ with $n\ge rk$ and $2\le s\le r$, the $r$-uniform general Kneser hypergraph $\mbox{KG}^r_s(n,k)$, has all $k$-subsets of $\{1,\dots,n\}$ as the vertex set and all multi-sets $\{A_1,\dots, A_r\}$ of $k$-subsets with $s$-wise empty intersections as the edge set. The case $r=s=2$, was considers by Kneser \cite{K} in 1955, where he conjectured that its chromatic number is $n-2(k-1)$. This was finally proved by Lovász \cite{L} in 1978. The case $r>…
We prove that $s_r(K_k) = O(k^5 r^{5/2})$, where $s_r(K_k)$ is the Ramsey parameter introduced by Burr, Erdős and Lovász in 1976, which is defined as the smallest minimum degree of a graph $G$ such that any $r$-colouring of the edges of $G$ contains a monochromatic $K_k$, whereas no proper subgraph of $G$ has this property. The construction used in our proof relies on a group theoretic model of generalised quadrangles introduced by Kantor in 1980.
The Erdos-Ko-Rado theorem tells us how large an intersecting family of r-sets from an n-set can be, while results due to Lovasz and Tuza give bounds on the number of singletons that can occur as pairwise intersections of sets from such a family. We consider a natural generalization of these problems. Given an intersecting family of r-sets from an n-set and 1\leq k \leq r, how many k-sets can occur as pairwise intersections of sets from the family? For k=r and k=1 this reduces to the problems described above. We answer this question exactly for all values of k and r, when n is sufficiently larg…
A uniform hypergraph $H$ is called $k$-Ramsey for a hypergraph $F$, if no matter how one colors the edges of $H$ with $k$ colors, there is always a monochromatic copy of $F$. We say that $H$ is minimal $k$-Ramsey for $F$, if $H$ is $k$-Ramsey for $F$ but every proper subhypergraph of $H$ is not. Burr, Erdős and Lovasz studied various parameters of minimal Ramsey graphs. In this paper we initiate the study of minimum degrees and codegrees of minimal Ramsey $3$-uniform hypergraphs. We show that the smallest minimum vertex degree over all minimal $k$-Ramsey $3$-uniform hypergraphs for $K_t^{(3)}$…
We prove that in sparse Erdős-Rényi graphs of average degree $d$, the vector chromatic number (the relaxation of chromatic number coming from the Lovàsz theta function) is typically $\tfrac{1}{2}\sqrt{d} + o_d(1)$. This fits with a long-standing conjecture that various refutation and hypothesis-testing problems concerning $k$-colorings of sparse Erdős-Rényi graphs become computationally intractable below the `Kesten-Stigum threshold' $d_{KS,k} = (k-1)^2$. Along the way, we use the celebrated Ihara-Bass identity and a carefully constructed non-backtracking random walk to prove two deterministic…
Paul Erdős and László Lovász established that any \emph{maximal intersecting family of $k-$sets} has at most $k^{k}$ blocks. They introduced the problem of finding the maximum possible number of blocks in such a family. They also showed that there exists a maximal intersecting family of $k-$sets with approximately $(e-1)k!$ blocks. Later Péter Frankl, Katsuhiro Ota and Norihide Tokushige used a remarkable construction to prove the existence of a maximal intersecting family of $k-$sets with at least $(\frac{k}{2})^{k-1}$ blocks. In this article we introduce the notion of a \emph{closed intersec…
The smallest number of edges forming an n-uniform hypergraph which is not r-colorable is denoted by m(n,r). Erdős and Lovász conjectured that m(n,2)=θ(n 2^n)$. The best known lower bound m(n,2)=Ω(sqrt(n/log(n)) 2^n) was obtained by Radhakrishnan and Srinivasan in 2000. We present a simple proof of their result. The proof is based on analysis of random greedy coloring algorithm investigated by Pluhár in 2009. The proof method extends to the case of r-coloring, and we show that for any fixed r we have m(n,r)=Ω((n/log(n))^(1-1/r) r^n) improving the bound of Kostochka from 2004. We also derive ana…
Classical problems in hypergraph coloring theory are to estimate the minimum number of edges, $m_2(r)$ (respectively, $m^\ast_2(r)$), in a non-$2$-colorable $r$-uniform (respectively, $r$-uniform and simple) hypergraph. The best currently known bounds are \[c \cdot \sqrt{r/\log r} \cdot 2^r \,\leqslant\, m_2(r) \,\leqslant\, C \cdot r^2 \cdot 2^r \qquad \text{and} \qquad c' \cdot r^{-\varepsilon} \cdot 4^r \,\leqslant\, m_2^\ast(r) \,\leqslant\, C' \cdot r^4 \cdot 4^r,\] for any fixed $\varepsilon > 0$ and some $c$, $c'$, $C$, $C' > 0$ (where $c'$ may depend on $\varepsilon$). In this paper we…
