Improved bounds on a generalization of Tuza's conjecture (Q2094882)

Summary: For an \(r\)-uniform hypergraph \(H\), let \(\nu^{(m)}(H)\) denote the maximum size of a set \(M\) of edges in \(H\) such that every two edges in \(M\) intersect in less than \(m\) vertices, and let \(\tau^{(m)}(H)\) denote the minimum size of a collection \(C\) of \(m\)-sets of vertices such that every edge in \(H\) contains an element of \(C\). The fractional analogues of these parameters are denoted by \(\nu^{\ast(m)}(H)\) and \(\tau^{\ast(m)}(H)\), respectively. Generalizing a famous conjecture of \textit{Z. Tuza} [Graphs Comb. 6, No. 4, 373--380 (1990; Zbl 0724.05059)] on covering triangles in a graph, \textit{R. Aharoni} and \textit{S. Zerbib} [J. Graph Theory 94, No. 3, 445--462 (2020; Zbl 1485.05077)] conjectured that for every \(r\)-uniform hypergraph \(H, \tau^{(r-1)}(H)/\nu^{(r-1)}(H) \leqslant \lceil{\frac{r+1}{2}}\rceil \). In this paper we prove bounds on the ratio between the parameters \(\tau^{(m)}\) and \(\nu^{(m)}\), and their fractional analogues. Our main result is that, for every \(r\)-uniform hypergraph \(H\), \[\tau^{\ast(r-1)}(H)/\nu^{(r-1)}(H)\leqslant \begin{cases}\frac{3}{4}r-\frac{r}{4(r+1)}\,\,\text{for}\,\, r\,\,\text{even}, \\ \frac{3}{4}r-\frac{r}{4(r+2)}\,\,\text{for}\,\, r\,\,\text{odd}. \end{cases} \] This improves the known bound of \(r-1\). We also prove that, for every \(r\)-uniform hypergraph \(H\), \(\tau^{(m)}(H)/\nu^{\ast(m)}(H) \leqslant \operatorname{ex}_m(r, m+1)\), where the Turán number \(\operatorname{ex}_r(n, k)\) is the maximum number of edges in an \(r\)-uniform hypergraph on \(n\) vertices that does not contain a copy of the complete \(r\)-uniform hypergraph on \(k\) vertices. Finally, we prove further bounds in the special cases \((r,m)=(4,2)\) and \((r,m)=(4,3)\).