For an $r$-uniform hypergraph $H$, let $\nu^{(m)}(H)$ denote the maximum size of a set $M$ of edges in $H$ such that every two edges in $M$ intersect in less than $m$ vertices, and let $\tau^{(m)}(H)$ denote the minimum size of a collection $C$ of $m$-sets of vertices such that every edge in $H$ contains an element of $C$. The fractional analogues of these parameters are denoted by $\nu^{*(m)}(H)$ and $\tau^{*(m)}(H)$, respectively. Generalizing a famous conjecture of Tuza on covering triangles in a graph, Aharoni and Zerbib conjectured that for every $r$-uniform hypergraph $H$, $\tau^{(r-1)}(H)/\nu^{(r-1)}(H) \leq \lceil{\frac{r+1}{2}}\rceil$. In this paper we prove bounds on the ratio between the parameters $\tau^{(m)}$ and $\nu^{(m)}$, and their fractional analogues. Our main result is that, for every $r$-uniform hypergraph~$H$,\[ \tau^{*(r-1)}(H)/\nu^{(r-1)}(H) \le \begin{cases} \frac{3}{4}r - \frac{r}{4(r+1)} &\text{for }r\text{ even,}\\\frac{3}{4}r - \frac{r}{4(r+2)} &\text{for }r\text{ odd.} \\\end{cases} \]This improves the known bound of $r-1$.We also prove that, for every $r$-uniform hypergraph $H$, $\tau^{(m)}(H)/\nu^{*(m)}(H) \le \operatorname{ex}_m(r, m+1)$, where the Turán number $\operatorname{ex}_r(n, k)$ is the maximum number of edges in an $r$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices that does not contain a copy of the complete $r$-uniform hypergraph on $k$ vertices. Finally, we prove further bounds in the special cases $(r,m)=(4,2)$ and $(r,m)=(4,3)$.
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Tight paths in convex geometric hypergraphs
One of the most intruguing conjectures in extremal graph theory is the conjecture of Erdős and Sós from 1962, which asserts that every $n$-vertex graph with more than $\frac{k-1}{2}n$ edges contains any $k$-edge tree as a subgraph. Kalai proposed a generalization of this conjecture to hypergraphs. To explain the generalization, we need to define the concept of a tight tree in an $r$-uniform hypergraph, i.e., a hypergraph where each edge contains $r$ vertices. A tight tree is an $r$-uniform hypergraph such that there is an ordering $v_1,\ldots,v_n$ of its its vertices with the following property: the vertices $v_1,\ldots,v_r$ form an edge and for every $i>r$, there is a single edge $e$ containing the vertex $v_i$ and $r-1$ of the vertices $v_1,\ldots,v_{i-1}$, and $e\setminus\{v_i\}$ is a subset of one of the edges consisting only of vertices from $v_1,\ldots,v_{i-1}$. The conjecture of Kalai asserts that every $n$-vertex $r$-uniform hypergraph with more than $\frac{k-1}{r}\binom{n}{r-1}$ edges contains every $k$-edge tight tree as a subhypergraph. The recent breakthrough results on the existence of combinatorial designs by Keevash and by Glock, Kühn, Lo and Osthus show that this conjecture, if true, would be tight for infinitely many values of $n$ for every $r$ and $k$.The article deals with the special case of the conjecture when the sought tight tree is a path, i.e., the edges are the $r$-tuples of consecutive vertices in the above ordering. The case $r=2$ is the famous Erdős-Gallai theorem on the existence of paths in graphs. The case $r=3$ and $k=4$ follows from an earlier work of the authors on the conjecture of Kalai. The main result of the article is the first non-trivial upper bound valid for all $r$ and $k$. The proof is based on techniques developed for a closely related problem where a hypergraph comes with a geometric structure: the vertices are points in the plane in a strictly convex position and the sought path has to zigzag beetwen the vertices.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1400249
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10155908
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advances in Combinatorics
- ISSN:
- 2517-5599
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.19086/aic.12044
