The Linear Relaxation of an Integer Program for the Union-Closed Conjecture

Abstract

The Frankl conjecture, also known as the union-closed sets conjecture, states that in any finite non-empty union-closed family, there exists an element in at least half of the sets. Let $f(n,a)$ be the maximum number of sets in a union-closed family on a ground set of $n$ elements where each element is in at most $a$ sets for some $a,n\in \mathbb{N}^+$. Proving that $f(n,a)\leq 2a$ for all $a, n \in \mathbb{N}^+$ is equivalent to proving the Frankl conjecture. By considering the linear relaxation of the integer programming formulation that was proposed in New Conjectures for Union-Closed Families by Pulaj, Raymond and Theis, we prove that $O(a^2)$ is an upper bound for $f(n,a)$. We also provide different ways that this result could be strengthened. Additionally, we give a new proof that $f(n,2^{n-1}-1)=2^n-n$.