Replaced the last section with a stronger condition that generalizes Poonen's Theorem. Minor changes in introduction and conclusion. Accepted for publication in Experimental Mathematics
The Frankl or Union-Closed Sets conjecture states that for any finite union-closed family of sets $\mathcal{F}$ containing some nonempty set, there is some element $i$ in the ground set $U(\mathcal F) := \bigcup_{S \in \mathcal{F}} S$ of $\mathcal{F}$ such that $i$ is in at least half of the sets in $\mathcal{F}$. In this work, we find new values and bounds for the least integer $FC(k, n)$ such that any union-closed family containing $FC(k, n)$ distinct $k$-sets of an $n$-set $X$ satisfies Frankl's conjecture with an element of $X$. Additionally, we answer an older question of Vaughan regarding symmetry in union-closed families and we give a proof of a recent question posed by Ellis, Ivan and Leader. Finally, we introduce novel local configuration criteria through a generalization of Poonen's Theorem to prove the conjecture for many, previously unknown classes of families.
We prove that the union-closed sets conjecture is true for separating union-closed families $\mathcal{A}$ with $|\mathcal{A}| \leq 2\left(m+\frac{m}{\log_2(m)-\log_2\log_2(m)}\right)$ where $m$ denotes the number of elements in $\mathcal{A}$.
In this very short paper, we point out that the average overlap density of a union-closed family $\mathcal{F}$ of subsets of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ may be as small as $Θ((\log \log |\mathcal{F}|)/(\log |\mathcal{F}|))$, for infinitely many positive integers $n$.
Our aim in this note is to show that, for any $ε>0$, there exists a union-closed family $\mathcal F$ with (unique) smallest set $S$ such that no element of $S$ belongs to more than a fraction $ε$ of the sets in $\mathcal F$. More precisely, we give an example of a union-closed family with smallest set of size $k$ such that no element of this set belongs to more than a fraction $(1+o(1))\frac{\log_2 k}{2k}$ of the sets in $\mathcal F$. We also give explicit examples of union-closed families containing `small' sets for which we have been unable to verify the Union-Closed Conjecture.
A finite family $\mathrsfs{F}$ of subsets of a finite set $X$ is union-closed whenever $f,g\in\mathrsfs{F}$ implies $f\cup g\in\mathrsfs{F}$. These families are well known because of Frankl's conjecture. In this paper we developed further the connection between union-closed families and upward-closed families started in Reimer (2003) using rising operators. With these techniques we are able to obtain tight lower bounds to the average of the length of the elements of $\mathrsfs{F}$ and to prove that the number of joint-irreducible elements of $\mathrsfs{F}$ can not exceed $2{n\choose \lfloor n/…
Given a union-closed family $\mathcal{F}$ of subsets of the universe $[n]$, with $\mathcal{F}$ not equal to the power set of $[n]$, a new subset $A$ can be added to it such that the resulting family remains union-closed. We construct a new family $\overline{\mathcal{F}}$ by adding to $\mathcal{F}$ all such $A$'s, and call this the closure of $\mathcal F$. This paper is dedicated to the study of various properties of such closures, including characterizing families whose closures equal the power set of $[n]$, providing a criterion for the existence of closure roots of such families etc.
In this article we will describe an algorithm to constructively enumerate non-isomorphic Union closed Sets and Moore sets. We confirm the number of isomorphism classes of Union closed Sets and Moore sets on n<=6 elements presented by other authors and give the number of isomorphism classes of Union closed Sets and Moore sets on 7 elements. Due to the enormous growth of the number of isomorphism classes it seems unlikely that constructive enumeration for 8 or more elements will be possible in the foreseeable future.
This paper discusses the question of how many non-empty subsets of the set $[n] = \{ 1, 2, ..., n\}$ we can choose so that no chosen subset is the union of some other chosen subsets. Let $M(n)$ be the maximum number of subsets we can choose. We construct a series of such families, which leads to lower bounds on $M(n)$. We also give upper bounds on $M(n)$. Finally, we propose several conjectures on the tightness of our lower bound for $M(n)$.
A family of sets is union-free if there are no three distinct sets in the family such that the union of two of the sets is equal to the third set. Kleitman proved that every union-free family has size at most $(1+o(1))\binom{n}{n/2}$. Later, Burosch--Demetrovics-Katona-Kleitman-Sapozhenko asked for the number $α(n)$ of such families, and they proved that $2^{\binom{n}{n/2}}\leq α(n) \leq 2^{2\sqrt{2}\binom{n}{n/2}(1+o(1))}$. They conjectured that the constant $2\sqrt{2}$ can be removed in the exponent of the right hand side. We prove their conjecture by formulating a new container-type theorem…
We show that there is some absolute constant $c>0$, such that for any union-closed family $\mathcal{F} \subseteq 2^{[n]}$, if \mbox{$|\mathcal{F}| \geq (\frac{1}{2}-c)2^n$}, then there is some element $i \in [n]$ that appears in at least half of the sets of $\mathcal{F}$. We also show that for any union-closed family $\mathcal{F} \subseteq 2^{[n]}$, the number of sets which are not in $\mathcal{F}$ that cover a set in $\mathcal{F}$ is at most $2^{n-1}$, and provide examples where the inequality is tight.
Let F be a finite union-closed family of sets whose largest set contains n elements. In \cite{Wojcik92}, Wojcik defined the density of F to be the ratio of the average set size of F to n and conjectured that the minimum density over all union-closed families whose largest set contains n elements is (1 + o(1))\log_2(n)/(2n) as n approaches infinity. We use a result of Reimer \cite{Reimer03} to show that the density of F is always at least log_2(n)/(2n), verifying Wojcik's conjecture. As a corollary we show that for n \geq 16, some element must appear in at least \sqrt{(\log_2(n))/n}(|F|/2) sets…
We present equivalent formulations for concepts related to set families for which every subfamily with empty intersection has a bounded sub-collection with empty intersection. Hereby, we summarize the progress on the related questions about the maximum size of such families. In this work we solve a boundary case of a problem of Tuza for non-trivial $q$-Helly families, by applying Karamata's inequality and determining the minimum size of a $2$-self-centered graph for which the common neighborhood of every pair of vertices contains a clique of size $q-2$.
Let G be a graph with vertices V and edges E. Let F be the union-closed family of sets generated by E. Then F is the family of subsets of V without isolated points. Theorem: There is an edge e belongs to E such that |{U belongs to F | e belongs to U}| =< 1/2|F|. This is equivalent to the following assertion: If H is a union-closed family generated by a family of sets of maximum degree two, then there is an $x$ such that |{U belongs to H | x belongs to U}| > 1/2|H|. This is a special case of the union-closed sets conjecture. To put this result in perspective, a brief overview of research on the…
Let $A\subset \mathbb{N}^{n}$ be an $r$-wise $s$-union family, that is, a family of sequences with $n$ components of non-negative integers such that for any $r$ sequences in $A$ the total sum of the maximum of each component in those sequences is at most $s$. We determine the maximum size of $A$ and its unique extremal configuration provided (i) $n$ is sufficiently large for fixed $r$ and $s$, or (ii) $n=r+1$.
In a recent breakthrough, Gilmer proved the union closed conjecture up to a constant factor. Using Gilmer's method and additional ideas, Chase and Lovett proved an optimal result for almost union-closed set systems. Here that result is extended to higher order unions.
We show that the biggest possible average set size in the complement $2^{\{1,2,\ldots, n\}} \setminus A$ of a union-closed family $A \subset 2^{\{1,2, \ldots, n\}}$ is $\tfrac{n+1}{2}$. With the same proof we get a sharp upper bound for the average frequency in complements of union-closed families. This implies an asymptotic version of the union-closed sets conjecture, formulated in terms of complements of union-closed families.
A family of sets is called union-closed if whenever $A$ and $B$ are sets of the family, so is $A\cup B$. The long-standing union-closed conjecture states that if a family of subsets of $[n]$ is union-closed, some element appears in at least half the sets of the family. A natural weakening is that the union-closed conjecture holds for large families; that is, families consisting of at least $p_02^n$ sets for some constant $p_0$. The first result in this direction appears in a recent paper of Balla, Bollobás and Eccles \cite{BaBoEc}, who showed that union-closed families of at least $\frac{2}{3}…
For each given union-closed family F of n elements and m sets, we discuss the union-closed sets conjecture from height number of the UC family, which is a natural parameter from lattice theory. In this paper, we call it height number of F(n, m), recorded as H(F). we prove that for any given union-closed family F, union-closed sets conjecture holds if its height number H(F) no more than 3 or no less than n-1. Since the height number H(F) is a positive integer which is bounded between 1 to n. As an attempted approach and framework, if we can prove union-closed sets conjecture holds for all possi…
A set system is called union closed if for any two sets in the set system their union is also in the set system. Gilmer recently proved that in any union closed set system some element belongs to at least a $0.01$ fraction of sets, and conjectured that his technique can be pushed to the constant $\frac{3-\sqrt{5}}{2}$. We verify his conjecture; show that it extends to approximate union closed set systems, where for nearly all pairs of sets their union belong to the set system; and show that for such set systems this bound is optimal.
The union-closed sets conjecture states that if a family of sets $\mathcal{A} \neq \{\emptyset\}$ is union-closed, then there is an element which belongs to at least half the sets in $\mathcal{A}$. In 2001, D. Reimer showed that the average set size of a union-closed family, $\mathcal{A}$, is at least $\frac{1}{2} \log_2 |\mathcal{A}|$. In order to do so, he showed that all union-closed families satisfy a particular condition, which in turn implies the preceding bound. Here, answering a question raised in the context of T. Gowers' polymath project on the union-closed sets conjecture, we show t…
We provide a proof of the union-closed sets conjecture, by means of a suitable refinement of the breakthrough entropy-approach introduced by Gilmer. The novelty here is to consider a convex combination of $A$ and $A\cup B$, where $A,B$ are independent samples from the uniform distribution over a union-closed family.
We provide a simple proof for the union-closed sets conjecture, a long-standing open problem in set theory with immediate applications to graph theory, number theory, and order-theory.
The union-closed sets conjecture (Frankl's conjecture) says that for any finite union-closed family of finite sets, other than the family consisting only of the empty set, there exists an element that belongs to at least half of the sets in the family. In this paper, we introduce two stronger versions of Frankl's conjecture and give a partial proof. Three related questions are introduced.
Frankl's union-closed sets conjecture states that in every finite union-closed set of sets, there is an element that is contained in at least half of the member-sets (provided there are at least two members). The conjecture has an equivalent formulation in terms of graphs: In every bipartite graph with least one edge, both colour classes contain a vertex belonging to at most half of the maximal stable sets. We prove that, for every fixed edge-probability, almost every random bipartite graph almost satisfies Frankl's conjecture.
Let F be a family of subsets of an n-element set not containing four distinct members such that A union B is contained in C intersect D. It is proved that the maximum size of F under this condition is equal to the sum of the two largest binomial coefficients of order n. The maximum families are also characterized. A LYM-type inequality for such families is given, too.
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 give a simple argument showing that the number of edges in the intersection graph $G$ of a family of $n$ sets in the plane with a linear union-complexity is $O(ω(G)n)$. In particular, we prove $χ(G)\leq \text{col}(G)< 19ω(G)$ for intersection graph $G$ of a family of pseudo-discs, which improves a previous bound.
Let R be a family of n axis-parallel rectangles with packing number p-1, meaning that among any p of the rectangles, there are two with a non-empty intersection. We show that the union complexity of R is at most O(n+p^2), and that the (<=k)-level complexity of R is at most O(kn+k^2p^2). Both upper bounds are tight.
Let F be a finite nonempty family of finite nonempty sets. We prove the following: (i) F satisfies the condition of the title if and only if for every pair of distinct subfamilies {A_1,...,A_r}, {B_1,...,B_s} of F, the union of the A_i is different from the union of the B_i. (ii) If F satisfies the condition of the title, then the number of subsets of the union of the members of F containing at least one set of F is odd. We give two applications of these results, one to number theory and one to commutative algebra.
Let Omega be a finite set and let S be a set system on Omega. For x in Omega, we denote by d_{S}(x) the number of members of S containing x. A long-standing conjecture of Frankl states that if S is union-closed then d(x) \geq |S|/2 for some x in Omega. We consider a related question. Define the weight of S to be w(S)= \sum_{A in S} |A|. Suppose S is union-closed. How small can w(S) be? Reimer showed that w(S) \geq |S| \log_{2} |S| /2, and that this inequality is sharp. In this paper we show how his bound may be improved if we have some additional information about the domain Omega of S: if S s…
A family of sets is said to be \emph{intersecting} if any two sets in the family have nonempty intersection. In 1973, Erdős raised the problem of determining the maximum possible size of a union of $r$ different intersecting families of $k$-element subsets of an $n$-element set, for each triple of integers $(n,k,r)$. We make progress on this problem, proving that for any fixed integer $r \geq 2$ and for any $k \leq (\tfrac{1}{2}-o(1))n$, if $X$ is an $n$-element set, and $\mathcal{F} = \mathcal{F}_1 \cup \mathcal{F}_2 \cup \ldots \cup \mathcal{F}_r$, where each $\mathcal{F}_i$ is an intersecti…
A family of sets is union-closed (UC) if the union of any two sets in the family is also in the family. Frankl's UC sets conjecture states that for any nonempty UC family $\mathcal{F} \subseteq 2^{[n]}$ such that $\mathcal{F} \neq \left\{\emptyset\right\}$, there exists an element $i \in [n]$ that is contained in at least half the sets of $\mathcal{F}$. The 3-sets conjecture of Morris states that the smallest number of distinct 3-sets (whose union is an $n$-set) that ensure Frankl's conjecture is satisfied for any UC family that contains them is $ \lfloor{n/2\rfloor} + 1$ for all $n \geq 4$. F…
In 1979 Frankl conjectured that in a finite non-trivial union-closed collection of sets there has to be an element that belongs to at least half the sets. We show that this is equivalent to the conjecture that in a finite non-trivial graph there are two adjacent vertices each belonging to at most half of the maximal stable sets. In this graph formulation other special cases become natural. The conjecture is trivially true for non-bipartite graphs and we show that it holds also for the classes of chordal bipartite graphs, subcubic bipartite graphs, bipartite series-parallel graphs and bipartiti…
Let $V$ be an $n$-dimensional vector space over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q}$, and let $\mathcal{L}(V)=\bigcup_{0\leq k\leq n}\left[V\atop k\right]$ be the set of all subspaces of $V$. A family of subspaces $\mathcal{F}\subseteq \mathcal{L}(V)$ is $s$-union if dim$(F+F')\leq s$ holds for all $F$, $F'\in\mathcal{F}$. A family $\mathcal{F}\subseteq \mathcal{L}(V)$ is an antichain if $F\nleq F'$ holds for any two distinct $F, F'\in \mathcal{F}$. The optimal $s$-union families in $\mathcal{L}(V)$ have been determined by Frankl and Tokushige in $2013$. The upper bound of cardinalities of $s$-un…
Union-free families of subsets of $[n]=\{1,... n\}$ have been studied in \cite{FF}. In this paper, we provide a complete characterization of maximal {\it symmetric difference}-free families of subsets of $[n]$.
