The method of double chains for largest families with excluded subposets

For a given finite poset $P$, $La(n,P)$ denotes the largest size of a family $\mathcal{F}$ of subsets of $[n]$ not containing $P$ as a weak subposet. We exactly determine $La(n,P)$ for infinitely many $P$ posets. These posets are built from seven base posets using two operations. For arbitrary posets, an upper bound is given for $La(n,P)$ depending on $|P|$ and the size of the longest chain in $P$. To prove these theorems we introduce a new method, counting the intersections of $\mathcal{F}$ with double chains, rather than chains.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to The Electronic Journal of Graph Theory and Applications (EJGTA

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 $t$

Forbidden subposet problems in the grid

For posets $P$ and $Q$, extremal and saturation problems about weak and strong $P$-free subposets of $Q$ have been studied mostly in the case $Q$ is the Boolean poset $Q_n$, the poset of all subsets of an $n$-element set ordered by inclusion. In this paper, we study some instances of the problem with $Q$ being the grid, and its connections to the Boolean case and to the forbidden submatrix problem

Poset-free Families and Lubell-boundedness

Given a finite poset $P$, we consider the largest size \lanp of a family \F of subsets of $[n]:=\{1,...,n\}$ that contains no subposet $P$. This continues the study of the asymptotic growth of \lanp; it has been conjectured that for all $P$, \pi(P):= \lim_{n\rightarrow\infty} \lanp/\nchn exists and equals a certain integer, $e(P)$. While this is known to be true for paths, and several more general families of posets, for the simple diamond poset \D_2, the existence of $\pi$ frustratingly remains open. Here we develop theory to show that $\pi(P)$ exists and equals the conjectured value $e(P)$ for many new posets $P$. We introduce a hierarchy of properties for posets, each of which implies $\pi=e$, and some implying more precise information about \lanp. The properties relate to the Lubell function of a family \F of subsets, which is the average number of times a random full chain meets \F. We present an array of examples and constructions that possess the properties