Partition-crossing hypergraphs

TL;DR

This paper investigates the minimum size of set systems that cross all partitions of a finite set, generalizing previous work and establishing bounds with connections to extremal graph and hypergraph problems.

Contribution

It extends the study of crossing set systems to the general case of two parameters, providing bounds and asymptotically tight estimates for the function f(n,k,r).

Findings

Established bounds for f(n,k,r) for various parameter combinations.

Connected the crossing set system problem to Turán-type extremal problems.

Provided asymptotically tight estimates for fixed k as n grows large.

Abstract

For a finite set $X$, we say that a set $H\subseteq X$ crosses a partition ${\cal P}=(X_1,\dots,X_k)$ of $X$ if $H$ intersects $\min (|H|,k)$ partition classes. If $|H|\geq k$, this means that $H$ meets all classes $X_i$, whilst for $|H|\leq k$ the elements of the crossing set $H$ belong to mutually distinct classes. A set system ${\cal H}$ crosses ${\cal P}$, if so does some $H\in {\cal H}$. The minimum number of $r$-element subsets, such that every $k$-partition of an $n$-element set $X$ is crossed by at least one of them, is denoted by $f(n,k,r)$. The problem of determining these minimum values for $k=r$ was raised and studied by several authors, first by Sterboul in 1973 [Proc. Colloq. Math. Soc. J. Bolyai, Vol. 10, Keszthely 1973, North-Holland/American Elsevier, 1975, pp. 1387--1404]. The present authors determined asymptotically tight estimates on $f(n,k,k)$ for every fixed $k$ as $n\to \infty$ [Graphs Combin., 25 (2009), 807--816]. Here we consider the more general problem for two parameters $k$ and $r$, and establish lower and upper bounds for $f(n,k,r)$. For various combinations of the three values $n,k,r$ we obtain asymptotically tight estimates, and also point out close connections of the function $f(n,k,r)$ to Tur\'an-type extremal problems on graphs and hypergraphs, or to balanced incomplete block designs.