# Minimum Weight Flat Antichains of Subsets

## TL;DR

This paper characterizes the minimum weight flat antichains in the Boolean lattice, extending classical theorems by analyzing their structure and providing asymptotic results for size and Lubell function.

## Contribution

It introduces a detailed characterization of minimum weight flat antichains with two consecutive set sizes, including maximal cases, based on parameters and orderings.

## Key findings

- Identifies minimum weight flat antichains for given parameters.
- Provides asymptotic bounds on size and Lubell function.
- Characterizes maximal flat antichains in the Boolean lattice.

## Abstract

Building on classical theorems of Sperner and Kruskal-Katona, we investigate antichains $\mathcal F$ in the Boolean lattice $B_n$ of all subsets of $[n]:=\{1,2,\dots,n\}$, where $\mathcal F$ is flat, meaning that it contains sets of at most two consecutive sizes, say $\mathcal F=\mathcal{A}\cup\mathcal{B}$, where $\mathcal{A}$ contains only $k$-subsets, while $\mathcal{B}$ contains only $(k-1)$-subsets. Moreover, we assume $\mathcal{A}$ consists of the first $m$ $k$-subsets in squashed (colexicographic) order, while $\mathcal{B}$ consists of all $(k-1)$-subsets not contained in the subsets in $\mathcal{A}$. Given reals $\alpha,\beta>0$, we say the weight of $\mathcal F$ is $\alpha\cdot|\mathcal{A}|+\beta\cdot|\mathcal{B}|$. We characterize the minimum weight antichains $\mathcal F$ for any given $n,k,\alpha,\beta$, and we do the same when in addition $\mathcal F$ is a maximal antichain. We can then derive asymptotic results on both the minimum size and the minimum Lubell function.