The number of k-intersections of an intersecting family of r-sets

The Erdos-Ko-Rado theorem tells us how large an intersecting family of r-sets from an n-set can be, while results due to Lovasz and Tuza give bounds on the number of singletons that can occur as pairwise intersections of sets from such a family. We consider a natural generalization of these problems. Given an intersecting family of r-sets from an n-set and 1\leq k \leq r, how many k-sets can occur as pairwise intersections of sets from the family? For k=r and k=1 this reduces to the problems described above. We answer this question exactly for all values of k and r, when n is sufficiently large. We also characterize the extremal families.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Vertex Ramsey problems in the hypercube

If we 2-color the vertices of a large hypercube what monochromatic substructures are we guaranteed to find? Call a set S of vertices from Q_d, the d-dimensional hypercube, Ramsey if any 2-coloring of the vertices of Q_n, for n sufficiently large, contains a monochromatic copy of S. Ramsey's theorem tells us that for any r \geq 1 every 2-coloring of a sufficiently large r-uniform hypergraph will contain a large monochromatic clique (a complete subhypergraph): hence any set of vertices from Q_d that all have the same weight is Ramsey. A natural question to ask is: which sets S corresponding to unions of cliques of different weights from Q_d are Ramsey? The answer to this question depends on the number of cliques involved. In particular we determine which unions of 2 or 3 cliques are Ramsey and then show, using a probabilistic argument, that any non-trivial union of 39 or more cliques of different weights cannot be Ramsey. A key tool is a lemma which reduces questions concerning monochromatic configurations in the hypercube to questions about monochromatic translates of sets of integers.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figure

An exact Tur\'an result for tripartite 3-graphs

Mantel's theorem says that among all triangle-free graphs of a given order the balanced complete bipartite graph is the unique graph of maximum size. We prove an analogue of this result for 3-graphs. Let $K_4^-=\{123,124,134\}$, $F_6=\{123,124,345,156\}$ and $\mathcal{F}=\{K_4^-,F_6\}$: for $n\neq 5$ the unique $\mathcal{F}$-free 3-graph of order $n$ and maximum size is the balanced complete tripartite 3-graph $S_3(n)$ (for $n=5$ it is $C_5^{(3)}=\{123,234,345,145,125\}$). This extends an old result of Bollob\'as that $S_3(n)$ is the unique 3-graph of maximum size with no copy of $K_4^-=\{123,124,134\}$ or $F_5=\{123,124,345\}$.Comment: 12 page

A solution to the 2/3 conjecture

We prove a vertex domination conjecture of Erd\H os, Faudree, Gould, Gy\'arf\'as, Rousseau, and Schelp, that for every n-vertex complete graph with edges coloured using three colours there exists a set of at most three vertices which have at least 2n/3 neighbours in one of the colours. Our proof makes extensive use of the ideas presented in "A New Bound for the 2/3 Conjecture" by Kr\'al', Liu, Sereni, Whalen, and Yilma.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 2 data files and proof checking code. Revised version to appear in SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematic

Hypergraphs do jump

We say that $\alpha\in [0,1)$ is a jump for an integer $r\geq 2$ if there exists $c(\alpha)>0$ such that for all $\epsilon >0$ and all $t\geq 1$ any $r$-graph with $n\geq n_0(\alpha,\epsilon,t)$ vertices and density at least $\alpha+\epsilon$ contains a subgraph on $t$ vertices of density at least $\alpha+c$. The Erd\H os--Stone--Simonovits theorem implies that for $r=2$ every $\alpha\in [0,1)$ is a jump. Erd\H os showed that for all $r\geq 3$, every $\alpha\in [0,r!/r^r)$ is a jump. Moreover he made his famous "jumping constant conjecture" that for all $r\geq 3$, every $\alpha \in [0,1)$ is a jump. Frankl and R\"odl disproved this conjecture by giving a sequence of values of non-jumps for all $r\geq 3$. We use Razborov's flag algebra method to show that jumps exist for $r=3$ in the interval $[2/9,1)$. These are the first examples of jumps for any $r\geq 3$ in the interval $[r!/r^r,1)$. To be precise we show that for $r=3$ every $\alpha \in [0.2299,0.2316)$ is a jump. We also give an improved upper bound for the Tur\'an density of $K_4^-=\{123,124,134\}$: $\pi(K_4^-)\leq 0.2871$. This in turn implies that for $r=3$ every $\alpha \in [0.2871,8/27)$ is a jump.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, 42 page appendix of C++ code. Revised version including new Corollary 2.3 thanks to an observation of Dhruv Mubay