Degree conditions for matchability in $3$-partite hypergraphs

Abstract

We study conjectures relating degree conditions in $3$-partite hypergraphs to the matching number of the hypergraph, and use topological methods to prove special cases. In particular, we prove a strong version of a theorem of Drisko \cite{drisko} (as generalized by the first two authors \cite{ab}), that every family of $2n-1$ matchings of size $n$ in a bipartite graph has a partial rainbow matching of size $n$. We show that milder restrictions on the sizes of the matchings suffice. Another result that is strengthened is a theorem of Cameron and Wanless \cite{CamWan}, that every Latin square has a diagonal (permutation submatrix) in which no symbol appears more than twice. We show that the same is true under the weaker condition that the square is row-Latin.