Perfect fractional matchings in \(k\)-out hypergraphs (Q2409824)

Summary: Extending the notion of (random) \(k\)-out graphs, we consider when the \(k\)-out hypergraph is likely to have a perfect fractional matching. In particular, we show that for each \(r\) there is a \(k=k(r)\) such that the \(k\)-out \(r\)-uniform hypergraph on \(n\) vertices has a perfect fractional matching with high probability (i.e., with probability tending to \(1\) as \(n\rightarrow\infty\)) and prove an analogous result for \(r\)-uniform \(r\)-partite hypergraphs. This is based on a new notion of hypergraph expansion and the observation that sufficiently expansive hypergraphs admit perfect fractional matchings. As a further application, we give a short proof of a stopping-time result originally due to \textit{M. Krivelevich} [Random Struct. Algorithms 9, No. 3, 317--334 (1996; Zbl 0874.05049)].