Property O and Erd\H{o}s--Szekeres properties in linear hypergraphs

Abstract

An oriented $k$-uniform hypergraph, or oriented $k$-graph, is said to satisfy Property O if, for every linear ordering of its vertex set, there is some edge oriented consistently with this order. The minimum number $f(k)$ of edges in a $k$-graph with Property O was first studied by Duffus, Kay, and R\"{o}dl, and later improved by Kronenberg, Kusch, Lamaison, Micek, and Tran. In particular, they established the bounds $k! + 1 \le f(k) \le \left(\lfloor\tfrac{k}{2}\rfloor+1 \right) k! - \lfloor\tfrac{k}{2}\rfloor(k-1)!$ for every $k \ge 2$. In this note, we extend the study of Property O to the linear setting. We determine the minimum number $f'(k)$ of edges in a linear $k$-graph up to a $\operatorname{poly}(k)$ multiplicative factor, showing that $\frac{(k!)^2}{2e^2k^4} \le f'(k) \le (1+o(1)) \cdot 4 k^6 \ln^2 k \cdot (k!)^2$. Our approach also yields bounds on the minimum number $n'(k)$ of vertices in an oriented linear $k$-graph with Property O. Additionally, we explore the minimum number of edges and vertices required in a linear $k$-graph satisfying the newly introduced Erd\H{o}s--Szekeres properties.