A set $S$ of vertices in a hypergraph is \textit{strongly independent} if every hyperedge shares at most one vertex with $S$. We prove a sharp result for the number of maximal strongly independent sets in a $3$-uniform hypergraph analogous to the Moon-Moser theorem.
Given an $r$-uniform hypergraph ${\mathcal H}$ and a non-empty set $A$ of non-negative integers, we say that a set $S$ is an \textit{$A$-transversal} of ${\mathcal H}$ if for any hyperedge $H$ of ${\mathcal H}$, we have \mbox{$|H\cap S| \in A$}. Independent sets are $\{0,1,\dots,r{-}1\}$-transversals, while strongly independent sets are $\{0,1\}$-transversals. Note that for some sets $A$, there may exist hypergraphs without any $A$-transversals. We study the maximum number of $A$-transversals for every $A$, but we focus on the more natural sets, e.g., $A=\{a\}$, $A=\{0,1,\dots,a\}$ or $A$ being the set of odd or the set of even numbers.
Among all uniform hypergraphs with even uniformity, the odd-transversal or odd-bipartite hypergraphs are more close to bipartite simple graphs from the viewpoint of both structure and spectrum. A hypergraph is called minimal non-odd-transversal if it is non-odd-transversal but deleting any edge results in an odd-transversal hypergraph. In this paper we give an equivalent characterization of the minimal non-odd-transversal hypergraphs by the degrees and the rank of its incidence matrix over $\mathbb{Z}_2$. If a minimal non-odd-transversal hypergraph is uniform, then it has even uniformity, and …
The first three authors [European J. Combin. 33 (2012), 62--71] established a relationship between the transversal number and the domination number of uniform hypergraphs. In this paper, we establish a relationship between the total transversal number and the total domination number of uniform hypergraphs. We prove tight asymptotic upper bounds on the total transversal number in terms of the number of vertices, the number of edges, and the edge size.
Let $H = (V,E)$ be a hypergraph with vertex set $V$ and edge set $E$ of order $\nH = |V|$ and size $\mH = |E|$. A transversal in $H$ is a subset of vertices in $H$ that has a nonempty intersection with every edge of $H$. A vertex hits an edge if it belongs to that edge. The transversal game played on $H$ involves of two players, \emph{Edge-hitter} and \emph{Staller}, who take turns choosing a vertex from $H$. Each vertex chosen must hit at least one edge not hit by the vertices previously chosen. The game ends when the set of vertices chosen becomes a transversal in $H$. Edge-hitter wishes to …
We bound the number of minimal hypergraph transversals that arise in tri-partite 3-uniform hypergraphs, a class commonly found in applications dealing with data. Let H be such a hypergraph on a set of vertices V. We give a lower bound of 1.4977 |V | and an upper bound of 1.5012 |V | .
Let $H$ be a $3$-regular $4$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices. The transversal number $τ(H)$ of $H$ is the minimum number of vertices that intersect every edge. Lai and Chang [J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 50 (1990), 129--133] proved that $τ(H) \le 7n/18$. Thomassé and Yeo [Combinatorica 27 (2007), 473--487] improved this bound and showed that $τ(H) \le 8n/21$. We provide a further improvement and prove that $τ(H) \le 3n/8$, which is best possible due to a hypergraph of order eight. More generally, we show that if $H$ is a $4$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices and $m$ edges with maximum degree $…
A matching in a hypergraph $H$ is a set of pairwise vertex disjoint edges in $H$ and the matching number of $H$ is the maximum cardinality of a matching in $H$. A transversal in $H$ is a subset of vertices in $H$ that has a nonempty intersection with every edge of $H$. The transversal number $τ(H)$ of $H$ is the minimum cardinality of a transversal in $H$. A hypergraph $H$ is an intersecting hypergraph if every two distinct edges of $H$ have a non-empty intersection. Equivalently, $H$ is an intersecting hypergraph if and only if it has matching number one. In this paper we study the extremal b…
A transversal of a hypergraph is a set of vertices intersecting each hyperedge. We design and analyze new exponential-time algorithms to enumerate all inclusion-minimal transversals of a hypergraph. For each fixed k>2, our algorithms for hypergraphs of rank k, where the rank is the maximum size of a hyperedge, outperform the previous best. This also implies improved upper bounds on the maximum number of minimal transversals in n-vertex hypergraphs of rank k>2. Our main algorithm is a branching algorithm whose running time is analyzed with Measure and Conquer. It enumerates all minimal transver…
The transversal number $τ(H)$ of a hypergraph $H$ is the minimum number of vertices that intersect every edge of $H$. A linear hypergraph is one in which every two distinct edges intersect in at most one vertex. A $k$-uniform hypergraph has all edges of size $k$. It is known that $τ(H) \le (n + m)/(k+1)$ holds for all $k$-uniform, linear hypergraphs $H$ when $k \in \{2,3\}$ or when $k \ge 4$ and the maximum degree of $H$ is at most two. It has been conjectured that $τ(H) \le (n+m)/(k+1)$ holds for all $k$-uniform, linear hypergraphs $H$. We disprove the conjecture for large $k$, and show that …
We survey several old and new problems related to the number of simplicial spheres, the number of neighborly simplicial spheres, the number of centrally symmetric simplicial spheres that are cs-neighborly, and the transversal numbers of hypergraphs that arise from simplicial spheres.
A hypergraph is linear if any two of its edges intersect in at most one vertex. The Sail (or $3$-fan) $F^3$ is the $3$-uniform linear hypergraph consisting of $3$ edges $f_1, f_2, f_3$ pairwise intersecting in the same vertex $v$ and an additional edge $g$ intersecting all $f_i$ in a vertex different from $v$. The linear Turán number $ex_{lin}(n, F^3)$ is the maximum number of edges in a $3$-uniform linear hypergraph on $n$ vertices that does not contain a copy of $F^3$. Füredi and Gyárfás proved that if $n = 3k$, then $ex_{lin}(n, F^3) = k^2$ and the only extremal hypergraphs in this case are…
We discuss the tropical analogues of several basic questions of convex duality. In particular, the polar of a tropical polyhedral cone represents the set of linear inequalities that its elements satisfy. We characterize the extreme rays of the polar in terms of certain minimal set covers which may be thought of as weighted generalizations of minimal transversals in hypergraphs. We also give a tropical analogue of Farkas lemma, which allows one to check whether a linear inequality is implied by a finite family of linear inequalities. Here, the certificate is a strategy of a mean payoff game. We…
Let $Π_q$ be an arbitrary finite projective plane of order $q$. A subset $S$ of its points is called saturating if any point outside $S$ is collinear with a pair of points from $S$. Applying probabilistic tools we improve the upper bound on the smallest possible size of the saturating set to $\lceil\sqrt{3q\ln{q}}\rceil+ \lceil(\sqrt{q}+1)/2\rceil$. The same result is presented using an algorithmic approach as well, which points out the connection with the transversal number of uniform multiple intersecting hypergraphs.
For $k \ge 2$, let $H$ be a $k$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices and $m$ edges. The transversal number $τ(H)$ of $H$ is the minimum number of vertices that intersect every edge. Chvátal and McDiarmid [Combinatorica 12 (1992), 19--26] proved that $τ(H)\le ( n + \left\lfloor \frac k2 \right\rfloor m )/ ( \left\lfloor \frac{3k}2 \right\rfloor )$. When $k = 3$, the connected hypergraphs that achieve equality in the Chvátal-McDiarmid Theorem were characterized by Henning and Yeo [J. Graph Theory 59 (2008), 326--348]. In this paper, we characterize the connected hypergraphs that achieve equality i…
In this paper, we prove a conjecture of Aharoni and Howard on the existence of rainbow (transversal) matchings in sufficiently large families $\mathcal F_1,\ldots, \mathcal F_s$ of tuples in $\{1,\ldots, n\}^k$, provided $s\ge 470.$
A d-interval hypergraph has d disjoint copies of the unit interval as its vertex set, and each edge is the union of d subintervals, one on each copy. Extending a classical result of Gallai on the case d = 1, Tardos and Kaiser used topological tools to bound the ratio between the transversal number and the matching number in such hypergraphs. We take a dual point of view, and bound the edge-covering number (namely the minimal number of edges covering the entire vertex set) in terms of a parameter expressing independence of systems of partitions of the d unit intervals. The main tool we use is a…
An independent transversal of a graph $G$ with a vertex partition $\mathcal P$ is an independent set of $G$ intersecting each block of $\mathcal P$ in a single vertex. Wanless and Wood proved that if each block of $\mathcal P$ has size at least $t$ and the average degree of vertices in each block is at most $t/4$, then an independent transversal of $\mathcal P$ exists. We present a construction showing that this result is optimal: for any $\varepsilon > 0$ and sufficiently large $t$, there is a family of forests with vertex partitions whose block size is at least $t$, average degree of vertice…
In a hypergraph with vertex set $V$ and edge set $E$, a real-valued function $f: V \to [0, 1]$ is a fractional transversal if $\sum_{v\in e} f(v) \ge 1$ for every edge $e \in E$. Its size is $|f| := \sum_{v \in V} f(v)$, and the fractional transversal number is the smallest possible $|f|$. We consider a game scenario where two players with opposite goals construct a fractional transversal incrementally, trying to minimize and maximize $|f|$, respectively. We prove that both players have strategies to achieve their common optimum, and they can reach their goals using rational weights.
In this paper we introduce and study the domination game on hypergraphs. This is played on a hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ by two players, namely Dominator and Staller, who alternately select vertices such that each selected vertex enlarges the set of vertices dominated so far. The game is over if all vertices of $\mathcal{H}$ are dominated. Dominator aims to finish the game as soon as possible, while Staller aims to delay the end of the game. If each player plays optimally and Dominator starts, the length of the game is the invariant `game domination number' denoted by $γ_g(\mathcal{H})$. This def…
An intersecting $r$-uniform straight line system is an intersecting linear system whose lines consist of $r$ points on straight line segment of $\mathbb{R}^2$ and any two lines share a point. Recently, the author [A. Vázquez-Ávila, \emph{On intersecting straight line systems}, J. Discret. Math. Sci. Cryptogr. Accepted] proved that any intersecting $r$-uniform straight line system $(P,\mathcal{L})$ has transversal number at most $ν_2-1$, with $r\geqν_2$, where $ν_2$ is the maximum cardinality of a subset of lines $R\subseteq\mathcal{L}$ such that every triplet of different elements of $R$ does …
Forts, (fractional) zero forcing, and Cartesian products of graphs
Penn State Behrend(宾州州立大学贝伦德分校);American Institute of Mathematics(美国数学研究所);Iowa State University(爱荷华州立大学);Purdue University(普渡大学);United States Naval Academy(美国海军学院);University of Regina(里贾纳大学);The University of Texas Permian Basin(德克萨斯大学永川盆地分校)
Fractional graph isomorphism is the linear relaxation of an integer programming formulation of graph isomorphism. It preserves some invariants of graphs, like degree sequences and equitable partitions, but it does not preserve others like connectivity, clique and independence numbers, chromatic number, vertex and edge cover numbers, matching number, domination and total domination numbers. In this work, we extend the concept of fractional graph isomorphism to hypergraphs, and give an alternative characterization, analogous to one of those that are known for graphs. With this new concept we pro…
A hypergraph is linear if any two edges intersect in at most one vertex. For a fixed $k$-uniform family ${\cal{F}}$ of hypergraphs, the linear Turán number ${\rm ex}_{\rm lin}(n,{\cal{F}})$ is the maximum number of edges in a $k$-uniform linear hypergraph $\mathcal H$ on $n$ vertices that does not contain any member of ${\cal{F}}$ as a subhypergraph. For $k\ge 2$ the $k$-fan $F^k$ is the $k$-uniform linear hypergraph having $k$ edges $f_1,\dots,f_k$ pairwise intersecting in the same vertex $v$ and an additional edge $g$ intersecting all $f_i$ in a vertex different from $v$. We prove the follow…
The Vapnik-Červonenkis dimension is a complexity measure of set-systems, or hypergraphs. Its application to graphs is usually done by considering the sets of neighborhoods of the vertices (cf. Alon et al. (2006) and Chepoi, Estellon, and Vaxes (2007)), hence providing a set-system. But the graph structure is lost in the process. The aim of this paper is to introduce the notion of paired VC-dimension, a generalization of VC-dimension to set-systems endowed with a graph structure, hence a collection of pairs of subsets. The classical VC-theory is generally used in combinatorics to bound the tran…
A linear system is a pair $(P,\mathcal{L})$ where $\mathcal{L}$ is a family of subsets on a ground finite set $P$ such that $|l\cap l^\prime|\leq 1$, for every $l,l^\prime \in \mathcal{L}$. If all elements of $\mathcal{L}$ of a linear system $(P,\mathcal{L})$, then the linear system is called $r$-uniform linear system. The transversal number of a linear system $(P,\mathcal{L})$, $τ(P,\mathcal{L})$, is the minimum cardinality of a subset $\hat{P}\subseteq P$ satisfying $l\cap\hat{P}\neq\emptyset$, for every $l\in\mathcal{L}$. The 2-packing number of a linear system $(P,\mathcal{L})$, $ν_2(P,\ma…
We determine the unique hypergraphs with maximum spectral radius among all connected $k$-uniform ($k\geq 3$) unicyclic hypergraphs with matching number at least $z$, and among all connected $k$-uniform ($k\geq 3$) unicyclic hypergraphs with a given matching number, respectively.
As an application of Szemeredi's regularity lemma, Erdos-Frankl-Rodl (1986) showed that the number of graphs on vertex set {1,2,...n} with a monotone class P is $2^{(1+o(1))ex(n,P)n^2/2}$ where $ex(n,P)$ is the maximum number of edges of an n-vertex graph which has no subgraph in P. Kohayakawa et al. (2003) extended it from monotone to hereditary and from graphs to 3-uniform hypergraphs. We extend it to general hypergraphs. This may be a simple example illustrating how to apply a recent hypergraph regularity lemma by the author.
We give an upper bound on the list chromatic number of a 2-colorable hypergraph which generalizes the bound of Schauz on $k$-partite $k$-uniform hypergraphs. It makes sense for sparse hypergraphs: in particular we show that a $k$-uniform $k$-regular hypergraph has the list chromatic number 2 for $k \geq 4$. Also we obtain both lower and upper bound on the list chromatic number of a complete $s$-uniform 2-colorable hypergraph in the vein of Erd{\H o}s--Rubin--Taylor theorem.
The competition hypergraph $C{\cH}(D)$ of a digraph $D$ is the hypergraph such that the vertex set is the same as $D$ and $e \subseteq V(D)$ is a hyperedge if and only if $e$ contains at least 2 vertices and $e$ coincides with the in-neighborhood of some vertex $v$ in the digraph $D$. Any hypergraph with sufficiently many isolated vertices is the competition hypergraph of an acyclic digraph. The hypercompetition number $hk(\cH)$ of a hypergraph $\cH$ is defined to be the smallest number of such isolated vertices. In this paper, we study the hypercompetition numbers of hypergraphs. First, we gi…
Beginning with the concepts of orientation for a 3-hypergraph and transitivity for an oriented 3-hypergraph, it is natural to study the class of comparability 3-hypergraphs (those that can be transitively oriented). In this work we show three different behaviors in respect to the relationship between the chromatic number and the clique number of a comparability 3-hypergraph, this is in contrast with the fact that a comparability simple graph is a perfect graph.
In this paper a new parameter for hypergraphs called hypergraph infection is defined. This concept generalizes zero forcing in graphs to hypergraphs. The exact value of the infection number of complete and complete bipartite hypergraphs is determined. A formula for the infection number for interval hypergraphs and several families of cyclic hypergraphs is given. The value of the infection number for a hypergraph whose edges form a symmetric t-design is given, and bounds are determined for a hypergraph whose edges are a t-design. Finally, the infection number for several hypergraph products and…
Let K_4 denote the complete 3-uniform hypergraph on 4 vertices. Ajtai, Erdős, Komlós, and Szemerédi (1981) asked if there is a function ω(d) tending to infinity such that every 3-uniform, K_4-free hypergraph N vertices and average degree d has independence number at least ω(d) N/d^{1/2}. We answer this question by constructing a 3-uniform, K_4-free hypergraph with independence number at most 2N/d^{1/2}. We also provide counterexamples to several related conjectures and improve the lower bound of some hypergraph Ramsey numbers.
We estimate the likely values of the chromatic and independence numbers of the random $r$-uniform $d$-regular hypergraph on $n$ vertices for fixed $r$, large fixed $d$, and $n \rightarrow \infty$.
The Catalan numbers $C_n$ are an extremely well-studied sequence of numbers that appear as the answer to many combinatorial problems. Two generalizations of these numbers that have been studied are the Fuss-Catalan numbers and the Hypergraph Catalan numbers. In this paper, we study the combination of these, the Hypergraph Fuss-Catalan numbers. We provide some combinatorial interpretations of these numbers, as well as describe their generating function.
The aim of the present paper is to prove that the maximum number of edges in a 3-uniform hypergraph on n vertices and matching number s is max{\binom(3s+2,3), \binom(n,3) - \binom(n-s,3)} for all n,s, n >= 3s+2.
The spectral radius (or the signless Laplacian spectral radius) of a general hypergraph is the maximum modulus of the eigenvalues of its adjacency (or its signless Laplacian) tensor. In this paper, we firstly obtain a lower bound of the spectral radius (or the signless Laplacian spectral radius) of general hypergraphs in terms of clique number. Moreover, we present a relation between a homogeneous polynomial and the clique number of general hypergraphs. As an application, we finally obtain an upper bound of the spectral radius of general hypergraphs in terms of clique number.
The concept of zero forcing is extended from graphs to uniform hypergraphs in analogy with the way zero forcing was defined as an upper bound for the maximum nullity of the family of symmetric matrices whose nonzero pattern of entries is described by a given graph: A family of symmetric hypermatrices is associated with a uniform hypergraph and zeros are forced in a null vector. The value of the hypergraph zero forcing number and maximum nullity are determined for various families of uniform hypergraphs and the effects of several graph operations on the hypergraph zero forcing number are determ…
In this note, we determine the maximum number of edges of a $k$-uniform hypergraph, $k\ge 3$, with a unique perfect matching. This settles a conjecture proposed by Snevily.
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 $…
Chvátal, Rödl, Szemerédi and Trotter proved that the Ramsey numbers of graphs of bounded maximum degree are linear in their order. We prove that the same holds for 3-uniform hypergraphs. The main new tool which we prove and use is an embedding lemma for 3-uniform hypergraphs of bounded maximum degree into suitable 3-uniform `pseudo-random' hypergraphs.
Let a 2 to 1 directed hypergraph be a 3-uniform hypergraph where every edge has two tail vertices and one head vertex. For any such directed hypergraph F let the nth extremal number of F be the maximum number of edges that any directed hypergraph on n vertices can have without containing a copy of F. There are actually two versions the directed hypergraph model for this problem: the standard version where every triple of vertices is allowed to have up to all three possible directed edges and the oriented version where each triple can have at most one directed edge. In this paper, we determine …
An oriented k-uniform hypergraph (a family of ordered k-sets) has the ordering property (or Property O) if for every linear order of the vertex set, there is some edge oriented consistently with the linear order. We find bounds on the minimum number of edges in a hypergraph with Property O.