Transversals in linear uniform hypergraphs (Q2191126)

A subset of the vertex set of a hypergraph is called a transversal if one can find at least one member of it in every hyperedge. The authors present in their book a number of bounds for the transversal number of linear hypergraphs. The book starts with a brief introduction to graph and hypergraph terminology used in the following chapters. Then, the authors study the linear intersection hypergraphs and show that they have largest transversal number among all linear hypergraphs with maximum degree at most two. In the third chapter, the authors study the relations between finite affine planes and linear uniform hypergraphs having large transversal number. In the next three chapters, they present and study the Tuza constants. In Chapter 10, the asymptotic behavior of these constants is investigated. In Chapter 7, they study the so-called West bound (called after Douglas West) and prove that it holds for \(k\)-uniform hypergraphs, where \(k\) is small. In Chapters 8 and 9, the authors introduce a new proof technique and use it to prove bounds for 4-uniform linear hypergraphs. Chapter 11 presents the relations between transversals in linear hypergraphs and the cup set problem. In Chapter 12, Steiner systems are discussed. In the next two chapters, the authors discuss upper and strong transversals. The last chapter presents a list of conjectures and open problems. The book is well written, all the proofs are clear and often illustrated with pictures, that makes them easier to follow. I recommend this book to the researchers in the area of hypergraphs -- it may serve as a nice survey on the recent results about the transversals in linear hypergraphs. I also think that it would be very useful for graduate students that would like to get familiar with this topic.