Intersection theorems for $\{0,\pm 1\}$-vectors and $s$-cross-intersecting families

Abstract

In this paper we study two directions of extending the classical Erd\H os-Ko-Rado theorem which states that any family of $k$-element subsets of the set $[n] = \{1,\ldots,n\}$ in which any two sets intersect, has cardinality at most ${n-1\choose k-1}$. In the first part of the paper we study the families of $\{0,\pm 1\}$-vectors. Denote by $\mathcal L_k$ the family of all vectors $\mathbf v$ from $\{0,\pm 1\}^n$ such that $\langle\mathbf v,\mathbf v\rangle = k$. For any $k$, most $l$ and sufficiently large $n$ we determine the maximal size of the family $\mathcal V\subset \mathcal L_k$ such that for any $\mathbf v,\mathbf w\in \mathcal V$ we have $\langle \mathbf v,\mathbf w\rangle\ge l$. We find some exact values of this function for all $n$ for small values of $k$. In the second part of the paper we study cross-intersecting pairs of families. We say that two families are $\mathcal A, \mathcal B$ are \textit{$s$-cross-intersecting}, if for any $A\in\mathcal A,B\in \mathcal B$ we have $|A\cap B|\ge s$. We also say that a set family $\mathcal A$ is {\it $t$-intersecting}, if for any $A_1,A_2\in \mathcal A$ we have $|A_1\cap A_2|\ge t$. For a pair of nonempty $s$-cross-intersecting $t$-intersecting families $\mathcal A,\mathcal B$ of $k$-sets, we determine the maximal value of $|\mathcal A|+|\mathcal B|$ for $n$ sufficiently large.