Random Kneser graphs and hypergraphs

TL;DR

This paper introduces a combinatorial approach to analyze the chromatic number of random Kneser graphs and hypergraphs, significantly improving existing bounds, especially for hypergraphs with uniformity r ≥ 3.

Contribution

It presents a new combinatorial method based on graph blow-ups that yields tighter bounds on the chromatic number of random Kneser graphs and hypergraphs, surpassing previous results.

Findings

Improved bounds on the chromatic number for random Kneser graphs and hypergraphs.

Replaced polynomial dependencies with logarithmic ones for r-uniform hypergraphs with r ≥ 3.

Enhanced understanding of the chromatic properties of random Kneser structures.

Abstract

The Kneser graph $KG_{n,k}$ is the graph whose vertices are the $k$-element subsets of $[n],$ with two vertices adjacent if and only if the corresponding sets are disjoint. A famous result due to Lov\'asz states that the chromatic number of $KG_{n,k}$ is equal to $n-2k+2$. In this paper we discuss the chromatic number of random Kneser graphs and hypergraphs. It was studied in two recent papers, one due to Kupavskii, who proposed the problem and studied the graph case, and the more recent one due to Alishahi and Hajiabolhassan. The authors of the latter paper had extended the result of Kupavskii to the case of general Kneser hypergraphs. Moreover, they have improved the bounds of Kupavskii in the graph case for many values of parameters. In the present paper we present a purely combinatorial approach to the problem based on blow-ups of graphs, which gives much better bounds on the chromatic number of random Kneser and Schrijver graphs and Kneser hypergraphs. This allows us to improve all known results on the topic. The most interesting improvements are obtained in the case of $r$-uniform Kneser hypergraphs with $r\ge 3$, where we managed to replace certain polynomial dependencies of the parameters by the logarithmic ones.