k-color Sperner theorems (Q1080849)

For a set S of cardinality n and a k-coloring \(\phi\) of S (that is, a function \(\phi\) : \(S\to \{1,2,...,k\})\), denote by \(X_{\phi}(S)\) the set of all families F of subsets of S such that A,B\(\in F\) and \(A\subsetneqq B\) implies B-A is not ''monochromatic''. Let X(S) be the union \(\cup_{\phi}X_{\phi}(S)\) and denote \(f(n,k)=\max_{F\in X(S)}card(F).\) The authors obtain two major results: 1) for any n and \(k\leq n\), there exists a family \(F^*\) of subsets of \(S=\{1,2,...,n\}\) such that \(card(F^*)=f(n,k)\) (this is, for \(k=1\), the Sperner's theorem); 2) \(\lim_{n\to \infty}f(n,k)/\left( \begin{matrix} n\\ \lfloor n/2\rfloor \end{matrix} \right)\sim \sqrt{\frac{\pi}{4}\frac{k}{\ln k}}\) as \(k\to \infty.\) The proof of the above results is given in full details.