The fractional Helly number for separable convexity spaces

TL;DR

This paper extends the fractional Helly theorem to abstract convexity spaces with separation properties and disproves a related conjecture about polynomial inequalities.

Contribution

It generalizes the fractional Helly number result to broader convexity spaces and refutes a conjecture on fractional Helly properties for polynomial inequality solutions.

Findings

Fractional Helly number is $d+1$ for certain abstract convexity spaces.

Disproves the conjecture on fractional Helly property for solutions of bounded-degree polynomial inequalities.

Generalizes classical Helly theorems to more abstract settings.

Abstract

A convex lattice set in $\mathbb{Z}^d$ is the intersection of a convex set in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and the integer lattice $\mathbb{Z}^d$. A well-known theorem of Doignon states that the Helly number of $d$-dimensional convex lattice sets equals $2^d$, while a remarkable theorem of B\'ar\'any and Matou\v{s}ek states that the fractional Helly number is only $d+1$. In this paper we generalize their result to abstract convexity spaces that are equipped with a suitable separation property. We also disprove a conjecture of B\'ar\'any and Kalai about an existence of fractional Helly property for a family of solutions of bounded-degree polynomial inequalities.