An improvement of the general bound on the largest family of subsets avoiding a subposet

Let $La(n,P)$ be the maximum size of a family of subsets of $[n]= \{1,2, ..., n \}$ not containing $P$ as a (weak) subposet, and let $h(P)$ be the length of a longest chain in $P$. The best known upper bound for $La(n,P)$ in terms of $|P|$ and $h(P)$ is due to Chen and Li, who showed that $La(n,P) \le \frac{1}{m+1} \left(|P| + \frac{1}{2}(m^2 +3m-2)(h(P)-1) -1 \right) {\binom {n} {\lfloor n/2 \rfloor}}$ for any fixed $m \ge 1$. In this paper we show that $La(n,P) \le \frac{1}{2^{k-1}} (|P| + (3k-5)2^{k-2}(h(P)-1) - 1 ) {n \choose {\lfloor n/2\rfloor} }$ for any fixed $k \ge 2$, improving the best known upper bound. By choosing $k$ appropriately, we obtain that $La(n,P) = O\left( h(P) \log_2\left(\frac{|P|}{h(P)}+2\right) \right) {n \choose \lfloor n/2 \rfloor }$ as a corollary, which we show is best possible for general $P$. We also give a different proof of this corollary by using bounds for generalized diamonds. We also show that the Lubell function of a family of subsets of $[n]$ not containing $P$ as an induced subposet is $O(n^c)$ for every $c>\frac{1}{2}$.Comment: Corrected mistakes, improved the writing. Also added a result about the Lubell function with forbidden induced subposets. The final publication will be available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11083-016-9390-

Diamond-free Families

Given a finite poset P, we consider the largest size La(n,P) of a family of subsets of $[n]:=\{1,...,n\}$ that contains no subposet P. This problem has been studied intensively in recent years, and it is conjectured that $\pi(P):= \lim_{n\rightarrow\infty} La(n,P)/{n choose n/2}$ exists for general posets P, and, moreover, it is an integer. For $k\ge2$ let \D_k denote the $k$-diamond poset $\{A< B_1,...,B_k < C\}$. We study the average number of times a random full chain meets a $P$-free family, called the Lubell function, and use it for P=\D_k to determine \pi(\D_k) for infinitely many values $k$. A stubborn open problem is to show that \pi(\D_2)=2; here we make progress by proving \pi(\D_2)\le 2 3/11 (if it exists).Comment: 16 page

Induced and non-induced forbidden subposet problems

The problem of determining the maximum size $La(n,P)$ that a $P$-free subposet of the Boolean lattice $B_n$ can have, attracted the attention of many researchers, but little is known about the induced version of these problems. In this paper we determine the asymptotic behavior of $La^*(n,P)$, the maximum size that an induced $P$-free subposet of the Boolean lattice $B_n$ can have for the case when $P$ is the complete two-level poset $K_{r,t}$ or the complete multi-level poset $K_{r,s_1,\dots,s_j,t}$ when all $s_i$'s either equal 4 or are large enough and satisfy an extra condition. We also show lower and upper bounds for the non-induced problem in the case when $P$ is the complete three-level poset $K_{r,s,t}$. These bounds determine the asymptotics of $La(n,K_{r,s,t})$ for some values of $s$ independently of the values of $r$ and $t$

Problems in extremal graphs and poset theory

In this dissertation, we present three different research topics and results regarding such topics. We introduce partially ordered sets (posets) and study two types of problems concerning them-- forbidden subposet problems and induced-poset-saturation problems. We conclude by presenting results obtained from studying vertex-identifying codes in graphs. In studying forbidden subposet problems, we are interested in estimating the maximum size of a family of subsets of the $n$-set avoiding a given subposet. We provide a lower bound for the size of the largest family avoiding the $\mathcal{N}$ poset, which makes use of error-correcting codes. We also provide and upper and lower bound results for a $k$-uniform hypergraph that avoids a \emph{triangle}. Ferrara et al. introduced the concept of studying the minimum size of a family of subsets of the $n$-set avoiding an induced poset, called induced-poset-saturation. In particular, the authors provided a lower bound for the size of an induced-antichain poset and we improve on their lower bound result. Let $G=(V,E)$ be a graph with vertex set $V$ and edge set $E$. For any nonnegative integer $r$, let $B_r(v)$ denote the ball of radius $r$ around vertex $v\in V$. For a finite graph $G$, an $r$-vertex-identifying code in $G$ is a subset $C\subset V(G)$, with the property that $B_r(u)\cap C\neq B_r(v)\cap C$, for all distinct $u,v\in V(G)$ and $B_r(v)\cap C\neq\emptyset$, for all $v\in V(G)$. We study graphs with large symmetric differences and $(p,\beta)$-jumbled graphs and estimate the minimum size of a vertex-identifying code in each graph

An upper bound on the size of diamond-free families of sets

Let $La(n,P)$ be the maximum size of a family of subsets of $[n]=\{1,2,...,n\}$ not containing $P$ as a (weak) subposet. The diamond poset, denoted $B_{2}$, is defined on four elements $x,y,z,w$ with the relations $x<y,z$ and $y,z<w$. $La(n,P)$ has been studied for many posets; one of the major open problems is determining $La(n,B_{2})$. Studying the average number of sets from a family of subsets of $[n]$ on a maximal chain in the Boolean lattice $2^{[n]}$ has been a fruitful method. We use a partitioning of the maximal chains and introduce an induction method to show that $La(n,B_{2})\leq(2.20711+o(1))\binom{n}{\left\lfloor \frac{n}{2}\right\rfloor }$, improving on the earlier bound of $(2.25+o(1))\binom{n}{\left\lfloor \frac{n}{2}\right\rfloor }$ by Kramer, Martin and Young.Comment: Accepted by JCTA. Writing is improved based on the suggestions of referee