On the number of linear multipartite hypergraphs with given size

TL;DR

This paper asymptotically determines the number of linear k-partite r-uniform hypergraphs with a small number of edges, extending understanding of their enumeration in large vertex sets.

Contribution

It provides the first asymptotic enumeration of linear k-partite r-uniform hypergraphs with sub-polynomial edge counts.

Findings

Asymptotic formula for the number of such hypergraphs

Extension to the case k=n for linear r-uniform hypergraphs

Results hold for edge counts o(n^{4/3})

Abstract

For any given integer $r\geqslant 3$, let $k=k(n)$ be an integer with $r\leqslant k\leqslant n$. A hypergraph is $r$-uniform if each edge is a set of $r$ vertices, and is said to be linear if two edges intersect in at most one vertex. Let $A_1,\ldots,A_k$ be a given $k$-partition of $[n]$ with $|A_i|=n_i\geqslant 1$. An $r$-uniform hypergraph $H$ is called {\it $k$-partite} if each edge $e$ satisfies $|e\cap A_i|\leqslant 1$ for $1\leqslant i\leqslant k$. In this paper, the number of linear $k$-partite $r$-uniform hypergraphs on $n\to\infty$ vertices is determined asymptotically when the number of edges is $m(n)=o(n^{\frac{4}{3}})$. For $k=n$, it is the number of linear $r$-uniform hypergraphs on vertex set $[n]$ with $m=o(n^{ \frac{4}{3}})$ edges.