A comment on Ryser's conjecture for intersecting hypergraphs

Abstract

Let $τ(\mathcal{H})$ be the cover number and $ν(\mathcal{H})$ be the matching number of a hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$. Ryser conjectured that every $r$-partite hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ satisfies the inequality $τ(\mathcal{H}) \leq (r-1) ν(\mathcal{H})$. This conjecture is open for all $r \ge 4$. For intersecting hypergraphs, namely those with $ν(\mathcal{H})=1$, Ryser's conjecture reduces to $τ(\mathcal{H}) \leq r-1$. Even this conjecture is extremely difficult and is open for all $ r \ge 6$. For infinitely many $r$ there are examples of intersecting $r$-partite hypergraphs with $τ(\mathcal{H})=r-1$, demonstrating the tightness of the conjecture for such $r$. However, all previously known constructions are not optimal as they use far too many edges. How sparse can an intersecting $r$-partite hypergraph be, given that its cover number is as large as possible, namely $τ(\mathcal{H}) \ge r-1$? In this paper we solve this question for $r \le 5$, give an almost optimal construction for $r=6$, prove that any $r$-partite intersecting hypergraph with $τ(H) \ge r-1$ must have at least $(3-\frac{1}{\sqrt{18}})r(1-o(1)) \approx 2.764r(1-o(1))$ edges, and conjecture that there exist constructions with $Θ(r)$ edges.

9 pages