On tight cycles in hypergraphs

Abstract

A tight $k$-uniform $\ell$-cycle, denoted by $TC_\ell^k$, is a $k$-uniform hypergraph whose vertex set is $v_0, \cdots, v_{\ell-1}$, and the edges are all the $k$-tuples $\{v_i, v_{i+1}, \cdots, v_{i+k-1}\}$, with subscripts modulo $\ell$. Motivated by a classic result in graph theory that every $n$-vertex cycle-free graph has at most $n-1$ edges, S\'os and, independently, Verstra\"ete asked whether for every integer $k$, a $k$-uniform $n$-vertex hypergraph without any tight $k$-uniform cycles has at most $\binom{n-1}{k-1}$ edges. In this paper, we answer this question in negative.