Matchings in 3-uniform hypergraphs

We determine the minimum vertex degree that ensures a perfect matching in a 3-uniform hypergraph. More precisely, suppose that H is a sufficiently large 3-uniform hypergraph whose order n is divisible by 3. If the minimum vertex degree of H is greater than \binom{n-1}{2}-\binom{2n/3}{2}, then H contains a perfect matching. This bound is tight and answers a question of Han, Person and Schacht. More generally, we show that H contains a matching of size d\le n/3 if its minimum vertex degree is greater than \binom{n-1}{2}-\binom{n-d}{2}, which is also best possible. This extends a result of Bollobas, Daykin and Erdos.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure. To appear in JCT

Polynomial-time perfect matchings in dense hypergraphs

Let $H$ be a $k$-graph on $n$ vertices, with minimum codegree at least $n/k + cn$ for some fixed $c > 0$. In this paper we construct a polynomial-time algorithm which finds either a perfect matching in $H$ or a certificate that none exists. This essentially solves a problem of Karpi\'nski, Ruci\'nski and Szyma\'nska; Szyma\'nska previously showed that this problem is NP-hard for a minimum codegree of $n/k - cn$. Our algorithm relies on a theoretical result of independent interest, in which we characterise any such hypergraph with no perfect matching using a family of lattice-based constructions.Comment: 64 pages. Update includes minor revisions. To appear in Advances in Mathematic