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Main Authors: Ivan, Maria-Romina, Jaffe, Sean
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.10294
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author Ivan, Maria-Romina
Jaffe, Sean
author_facet Ivan, Maria-Romina
Jaffe, Sean
contents Given a finite poset $\mathcal P$, we say that a family $\mathcal F$ of subsets of $[n]$ is $\mathcal P$-saturated if $\mathcal F$ does not contain an induced copy of $\mathcal P$, but adding any other set to $\mathcal F$ creates an induced copy of $\mathcal P$. The saturation number of $\mathcal P$ is the size of the smallest $\mathcal P$-saturated family with ground set $[n]$. The saturation numbers have been shown to exhibit a dichotomy: for any poset, the saturation number is either bounded, or at least $2\sqrt n$. The general conjecture is that in fact, the saturation number for any poset is either bounded, or at least linear. The linear sum of two posets $\mathcal P_1$ and $\mathcal P_2$, dented by $\mathcal P_1*\mathcal P_2$, is defined as the poset obtained from a copy of $\mathcal P_1$ placed completely on top of a copy of $\mathcal P_2$. In this paper we show that the saturation number of $\mathcal P_1*\mathcal A_k*\mathcal P_2$ is always at least linear, for any $\mathcal P_1$, $\mathcal P_2$ and $k\geq2$, where $\mathcal A_k$ is the antichain of size $k$. This is a generalisation of the recent result that the saturation number for the diamond is linear (in that case $\mathcal P_1$ and $\mathcal P_2$ are both the single point poset, and $k=2$). We also show that, with the exception of chains which are known to have bounded saturation number, the saturation number for all complete multipartite posets is linear.
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publishDate 2025
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spellingShingle Saturation for Sums of Posets and Antichains
Ivan, Maria-Romina
Jaffe, Sean
Combinatorics
Given a finite poset $\mathcal P$, we say that a family $\mathcal F$ of subsets of $[n]$ is $\mathcal P$-saturated if $\mathcal F$ does not contain an induced copy of $\mathcal P$, but adding any other set to $\mathcal F$ creates an induced copy of $\mathcal P$. The saturation number of $\mathcal P$ is the size of the smallest $\mathcal P$-saturated family with ground set $[n]$. The saturation numbers have been shown to exhibit a dichotomy: for any poset, the saturation number is either bounded, or at least $2\sqrt n$. The general conjecture is that in fact, the saturation number for any poset is either bounded, or at least linear. The linear sum of two posets $\mathcal P_1$ and $\mathcal P_2$, dented by $\mathcal P_1*\mathcal P_2$, is defined as the poset obtained from a copy of $\mathcal P_1$ placed completely on top of a copy of $\mathcal P_2$. In this paper we show that the saturation number of $\mathcal P_1*\mathcal A_k*\mathcal P_2$ is always at least linear, for any $\mathcal P_1$, $\mathcal P_2$ and $k\geq2$, where $\mathcal A_k$ is the antichain of size $k$. This is a generalisation of the recent result that the saturation number for the diamond is linear (in that case $\mathcal P_1$ and $\mathcal P_2$ are both the single point poset, and $k=2$). We also show that, with the exception of chains which are known to have bounded saturation number, the saturation number for all complete multipartite posets is linear.
title Saturation for Sums of Posets and Antichains
topic Combinatorics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.10294