Helly numbers of Algebraic Subsets of $\mathbb R^d$

Abstract

We study $S$-convex sets, which are the geometric objects obtained as the intersection of the usual convex sets in $\mathbb R^d$ with a proper subset $S\subset \mathbb R^d$. We contribute new results about their $S$-Helly numbers. We extend prior work for $S=\mathbb R^d$, $\mathbb Z^d$, and $\mathbb Z^{d-k}\times\mathbb R^k$; we give sharp bounds on the $S$-Helly numbers in several new cases. We considered the situation for low-dimensional $S$ and for sets $S$ that have some algebraic structure, in particular when $S$ is an arbitrary subgroup of $\mathbb R^d$ or when $S$ is the difference between a lattice and some of its sublattices. By abstracting the ingredients of Lovász method we obtain colorful versions of many monochromatic Helly-type results, including several colorful versions of our own results.

13 pages, 3 figures. This paper is a revised version of what was originally the first half of arXiv:1504.00076v1