In this short note we show that both generalizations of celebrated Erdős--Ko--Rado theorem and Hilton--Milner theorem to the setting of exterior algebra in the simplest non-trivial case of two-forms follow from the folklore puzzle about possible arrangements of an intersecting family of lines.
We give a canonical partition of shifted intersecting set systems, from which one can obtain unified and elementary proofs of the Erdős-Ko-Rado and Hilton-Milner Theorem, as well as a characterization of maximal shifted $k$-uniform intersecting set systems over $[n]$.
The celebrated Erdős-Ko-Rado theorem determines the maximum size of a $k$-uniform intersecting family. The Hilton-Milner theorem determines the maximum size of a $k$-uniform intersecting family that is not a subfamily of the so-called Erdős-Ko-Rado family. In turn, it is natural to ask what the maximum size of an intersecting $k$-uniform family that is neither a subfamily of the Erdős-Ko-Rado family nor of the Hilton-Milner family is. For $k\ge 4$, this was solved (implicitly) in the same paper by Hilton-Milner in 1967. We give a different and simpler proof, based on the shifting method, which…
Two families $\mathcal{F},\mathcal{G}$ of $k$-subsets of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ are called non-trivial cross-intersecting if $F\cap G\neq \emptyset$ for all $F\in \mathcal{F}, G\in \mathcal{G}$ and $\cap \{F\colon F\in \mathcal{F}\}=\emptyset=\cap \{G\colon G\in \mathcal{G}\}$. In the present paper, we determine the maximum product of the sizes of two non-trivial cross-intersecting families of $k$-subsets of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ for $n\geq 4k$, $k\geq 8$, which is a product version of the classical Hilton-Milner Theorem.
Let $m$, $n$, and $k$ be integers satisfying $0 < k \leq n < 2k \leq m$. A family of sets $\mathcal{F}$ is called an $(m,n,k)$-intersecting family if $\binom{[n]}{k} \subseteq \mathcal{F} \subseteq \binom{[m]}{k}$ and any pair of members of $\mathcal{F}$ have nonempty intersection. Maximum $(m,k,k)$- and $(m,k+1,k)$-intersecting families are determined by the theorems of Erdős-Ko-Rado and Hilton-Milner, respectively. We determine the maximum families for the cases $n = 2k-1, 2k-2, 2k-3$, and $m$ sufficiently large.
Two families $\mathcal{F},\mathcal{G}$ of $k$-subsets of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ are called non-trivial cross $t$-intersecting if $|F\cap G|\geq t$ for all $F\in \mathcal{F}, G\in \mathcal{G}$ and $|\cap \{F\colon F\in \mathcal{F}\}|<t$, $|\cap \{G\colon G\in\mathcal{G}\}|<t$. In the present paper, we determine the maximum product of the sizes of two non-trivial cross $t$-intersecting families of $k$-subsets of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ for $n\geq 4(t+2)^2k^2$, $k\geq 5$, which is a product version of the Hilton-Milner-Frankl Theorem.
A set system F is intersecting if any pair of sets in F have a nonempty intersection. A fundamental theorem of Erdős, Ko and Rado states that if F is an intersecting family of r-subsets of [n]={1,...,n}, and n>= 2r, then the cardinality of F is at most the cardinality of the family of all r-subsets of [n] containing a fixed element. Furthermore, when n>2r, equality holds if and only if F is the family of all r-subsets of [n] containing a fixed element. This characterization was proved as part of a stronger result by Hilton and Milner. In this note, we provide new injective proofs of the Erdős-…
In this article, we analyse maximal sets of $k$-spaces, in PG(n,q) and AG(n,q), $n>2k+t+2$, that pairwise meet in at least a $t$-space. It is known that for both PG(n,q) and AG(n,q), the largest example is a $t$-pencil, i.e. the set of all $k$-spaces containing a fixed $t$-space. In this paper, we analyse the structure of the second largest maximal example in both PG(n,q) and AG(n,q).
An intersecting family of sets is trivial if all of its members share a common element. Hilton and Milner proved a strong stability result for the celebrated Erdős--Ko--Rado theorem: when $n> 2k$, every non-trivial intersecting family of $k$-subsets of $[n]$ has at most $\binom{n-1}{k-1}-\binom{n-k-1}{k-1}+1$ members. One extremal family $\mathcal{HM}_{n, k}$ consists of a $k$-set $S$ and all $k$-subsets of $[n]$ containing a fixed element $x\not\in S$ and at least one element of $S$. We prove a degree version of the Hilton--Milner theorem: if $n=Ω(k^2)$ and $\mathcal{F}$ is a non-trivial inte…
Let $\mathcal{B}(n)$ denote the collection of all set partitions of $[n]$. Suppose $\mathcal{A} \subseteq \mathcal{B}(n)$ is a non-trivial $t$-intersecting family of set partitions i.e. any two members of $\A$ have at least $t$ blocks in common, but there is no fixed $t$ blocks of size one which belong to all of them. It is proved that for sufficiently large $n$ depending on $t$, \[ |\mathcal{A}| \le B_{n-t}-\tilde{B}_{n-t}-\tilde{B}_{n-t-1}+t \] where $B_{n}$ is the $n$-th Bell number and $\tilde{B}_{n}$ is the number of set partitions of $[n]$ without blocks of size one. Moreover, equality h…
A set of permutations $\mathcal{F}$ of a finite transitive permutation group $G\leq \operatorname{Sym}(Ω)$ is \emph{intersecting} if any pair of elements of $\mathcal{F}$ agree on an element of $Ω$. We say that $G$ has the \emph{EKR property} if an intersecting set of $G$ has size at most the order of a point stabilizer. Moreover, $G$ has the \emph{strict-EKR} property whenever $G$ has the EKR property and any intersecting set of maximum size is a coset of a point stabilizer of $G$. It is known that the permutation group $\operatorname{GL}_2(\mathbb{F}_q)$ acting on $Ω_q := \mathbb{F}_q^2\setm…
Structure of large $t$-intersecting families I: Stability for the Hilton--Milner--Frankl theorem
School of Mathematical Sciences, Beijing Normal University(北京师范大学数学科学学院);Laboratory of Mathematics and Complex Systems (Ministry of Education)(数学复杂系统与先进测量教育部重点实验室)
Erdős--Ko--Rado and Hilton--Milner Theorems in the Partition Lattice
Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Renmin University of China(中国人民大学数学科学研究所);School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Science and Technology Beijing(北京科技大学数理学院);Department of Mathematical Sciences, Tsinghua University(清华大学数学科学系)
A unified approach to cross-intersection problems with applications to Hilton--Milner type theorems and stability
Laboratory of Mathematics and Complex Systems (Ministry of Education), School of Mathematical Sciences, Beijing Normal University(数学复杂系统与教育部重点实验室,北京师范大学)
Let $\mathbb N_0$ be the set of non-negative integers, and let $P(n,l)$ denote the set of all weak compositions of $n$ with $l$ parts, i.e., $P(n,l)=\{ (x_1,x_2,\dots, x_l)\in\mathbb N_0^l\ :\ x_1+x_2+\cdots+x_l=n\}$. For any element $\mathbf u=(u_1,u_2,\dots, u_l)\in P(n,l)$, denote its $i$th-coordinate by $\mathbf u(i)$, i.e., $\mathbf u(i)=u_i$. A family $\mathcal A\subseteq P(n,l)$ is said to be $t$-intersecting if $\vert \{ i \ :\ \mathbf u(i)=\mathbf v(i)\} \vert\geq t$ for all $\mathbf u,\mathbf v\in \mathcal A$. A family $\mathcal A\subseteq P(n,l)$ is said to be trivially $t$-intersec…
We obtain a new weak Hilton-Milner type result for intersecting families of $k$-spaces in $\mathbb{F}_q^{2k}$, which improves several known results. In particular the chromatic number of the $q$-Kneser graph $qK_{n:k}$ was previously known for $n > 2k$ (except for $n=2k+1$ and $q=2$) or $k < q \log q - q$. Our result determines the chromatic number of $qK_{2k:k}$ for $q \geq 5$, so that the only remaining open cases are $(n, k) = (2k, k)$ with $q \in \{ 2, 3, 4 \}$ and $(n, k) = (2k+1, k)$ with $q = 2$.
Let A_1,...,A_k be a collection of families of subsets of an n-element set. We say that this collection is cross-intersecting if for any i,j in [k] with i not equal to j, A in A_i and B in A_j implies that the intersection of A and B is nonempty. We consider a theorem of Hilton which gives a best possible upper bound on the sum of the cardinalities of uniform cross-intersecting subfamilies. We formulate a graph-theoretic analogue of Hilton's cross-intersection theorem, similar to the one developed by Holroyd, Spencer and Talbot for the Erdos-Ko-Rado theorem. In particular we build on a result …
The Kneser graph ${\rm KG}_{n,k}$ is a graph whose vertex set is the family of all $k$-subsets of $[n]$ and two vertices are adjacent if their corresponding subsets are disjoint. The classical Erdős-Ko-Rado theorem determines the cardinality and structure of a maximum induced $K_2$-free subgraph in ${\rm KG}_{n,k}$. As a generalization of the Erdős-Ko-Rado theorem, Erdős proposed a conjecture about the maximum order of an induced $K_{s+1}$-free subgraph of ${\rm KG}_{n,k}$. As the best known result concerning this conjecture, Frankl [Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series A, 2013], when $n\ge…
The matching number of a family of subsets of an $n$-element set is the maximum number of pairwise disjoint sets. The families with matching number $1$ are called intersecting. The famous Erd\H os-Ko-Rado theorem determines the size of the largest intersecting family of $k$-sets. Its generalization to the families with larger matching numbers, known under the name of the Erdős Matching Conjecture, is still open for a wide range of parameters. In this paper, we address the degree versions of both theorems. More precisely, we give degree and $t$-degree versions of the Erdős-Ko-Rado and the Hilto…
The families $\mathcal F_1,\ldots, \mathcal F_s\subset 2^{[n]}$ are called $q$-dependent if there are no pairwise disjoint $F_1\in \mathcal F_1,\ldots, F_s\in\mathcal F_s$ satisfying $|F_1\cup\ldots\cup F_s|\le q.$ We determine $\max |\mathcal F_1|+\ldots +|\mathcal F_s| $ for all values $n\ge q,s\ge 2$. The result provides a far-reaching generalization of an important classical result of Kleitman. The well-known Erd\H os Matching Conjecture suggests the largest size of a family $\mathcal F\subset {[n]\choose k}$ with no $s$ pairwise disjoint sets. After more than 50 years its full solution is…
A family $\F$ of sets is said to be intersecting if any two sets in $\F$ have nonempty intersection. The celebrated Erd{\H o}s-Ko-Rado theorem determines the size and structure of the largest intersecting family of $k$-sets on an $n$-set $X$. An $(s,t)$-union intersecting family is a family of $k$-sets on an $n$-set $X$ such that for any $A_1,\ldots,A_{s+t}$ in this family, $\left(\cup_{i=1}^sA_i\right)\cap\left(\cup_{i=1}^t A_{i+s}\right)\neq \varnothing.$ Let $\ell(\F)$ be the minimum number of sets in $\F$ such that by removing them the resulting subfamily is intersecting. In this paper, fo…
We say that a family of $k$-subsets of an $n$-element set is intersecting, if any two of its sets intersect. In this paper we study different extremal properties of intersecting families, as well as the structure of large intersecting families. We also give some results on $k$-uniform families without $s$ pairwise disjoint sets, related to the Erdős Matching Conjecture. We prove a conclusive version of Frankl's theorem on intersecting families with bounded maximal degree. This theorem, along with its generalizations to cross-intersecting families, implies many results on the topic, obtained by…