Hilton-Milner Theorem for the $r$-independent sets in a union of cliques

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Gunderson, Karen, Meagher, Karen, Morris, Joy, Pantangi, Venkata Raghu Tej
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Gunderson, Karen
Meagher, Karen
Morris, Joy
Pantangi, Venkata Raghu Tej
author_facet Gunderson, Karen
Meagher, Karen
Morris, Joy
Pantangi, Venkata Raghu Tej
contents We give a Hilton-Milner Theorem for the $r$-independent sets in the graph that is the union of copies of $K_k$. That is, we determine the maximum intersecting families of $r$-independent sets in this graph, subject to the condition that the sets in a family do not all share a common element. As a by-product, we also find a tight upper bound for the sum of sizes of a pair of cross intersecting families made up of the same objects. We apply our theorem to find the largest intersecting family of $r$-independent sets in a family of graphs called ``depth-two claws". This confirms the Holroyd--Talbot conjecture for depth-two claws, extending previous results on these graphs (which covered cases where $r$ was relatively small compared to the number of vertices) to all possible values of $r$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_18785
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Hilton-Milner Theorem for the $r$-independent sets in a union of cliques
Gunderson, Karen
Meagher, Karen
Morris, Joy
Pantangi, Venkata Raghu Tej
Combinatorics
05C35, 05C69, 05D05
We give a Hilton-Milner Theorem for the $r$-independent sets in the graph that is the union of copies of $K_k$. That is, we determine the maximum intersecting families of $r$-independent sets in this graph, subject to the condition that the sets in a family do not all share a common element. As a by-product, we also find a tight upper bound for the sum of sizes of a pair of cross intersecting families made up of the same objects. We apply our theorem to find the largest intersecting family of $r$-independent sets in a family of graphs called ``depth-two claws". This confirms the Holroyd--Talbot conjecture for depth-two claws, extending previous results on these graphs (which covered cases where $r$ was relatively small compared to the number of vertices) to all possible values of $r$.
title Hilton-Milner Theorem for the $r$-independent sets in a union of cliques
topic Combinatorics
05C35, 05C69, 05D05
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.18785