312 research outputs found
Large matchings in uniform hypergraphs and the conjectures of Erdos and Samuels
In this paper we study conditions which guarantee the existence of perfect
matchings and perfect fractional matchings in uniform hypergraphs. We reduce
this problem to an old conjecture by Erd\H{o}s on estimating the maximum number
of edges in a hypergraph when the (fractional) matching number is given, which
we are able to solve in some special cases using probabilistic techniques.
Based on these results, we obtain some general theorems on the minimum
-degree ensuring the existence of perfect (fractional) matchings. In
particular, we asymptotically determine the minimum vertex degree which
guarantees a perfect matching in 4-uniform and 5-uniform hypergraphs. We also
discuss an application to a problem of finding an optimal data allocation in a
distributed storage system
Polynomial-time perfect matchings in dense hypergraphs
Let be a -graph on vertices, with minimum codegree at least for some fixed . In this paper we construct a polynomial-time
algorithm which finds either a perfect matching in 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 . 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
Nonnegative k-sums, fractional covers, and probability of small deviations
More than twenty years ago, Manickam, Mikl\'{o}s, and Singhi conjectured that
for any integers satisfying , every set of real numbers
with nonnegative sum has at least -element subsets whose
sum is also nonnegative. In this paper we discuss the connection of this
problem with matchings and fractional covers of hypergraphs, and with the
question of estimating the probability that the sum of nonnegative independent
random variables exceeds its expectation by a given amount. Using these
connections together with some probabilistic techniques, we verify the
conjecture for . This substantially improves the best previously
known exponential lower bound . In addition we prove
a tight stability result showing that for every and all sufficiently large
, every set of reals with a nonnegative sum that does not contain a
member whose sum with any other members is nonnegative, contains at least
subsets of cardinality with
nonnegative sum.Comment: 15 pages, a section of Hilton-Milner type result adde
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