Factorizations of Complete Multipartite Hypergraphs

TL;DR

This paper generalizes a theorem on hypergraph factorizations to schedule specific meetings among mathematicians from different areas, ensuring certain meeting patterns and counts are achievable.

Contribution

It extends Baranyai's theorem to a broader class of hypergraph factorizations using hypergraph amalgamation-detachment techniques.

Findings

Scheduling conditions: divisibility constraints for meetings.

Generalized hypergraph factorization theorem.

Application to collaboration network design.

Abstract

In a mathematics workshop with $mn$ mathematicians from $n$ different areas, each area consisting of $m$ mathematicians, we want to create a collaboration network. For this purpose, we would like to schedule daily meetings between groups of size three, so that (i) two people of the same area meet one person of another area, (ii) each person has exactly $r$ meeting(s) each day, and (iii) each pair of people of the same area have exactly $\lambda$ meeting(s) with each person of another area by the end of the workshop. Using hypergraph amalgamation-detachment, we prove a more general theorem. In particular we show that above meetings can be scheduled if: $3 \ | \ rm$, $2 \ | \ rnm$ and $r \ | \ 3\lambda(n-1)\binom{m}{2}$. This result can be viewed as an analogue of Baranyai's theorem on factorizations of complete multipartite hypergraphs.