No label defined (Q3147272)

A family of \(2n\) sets is halvable if it can be split into two families of \(n\) sets with a common system of distinct representatives. The following necessary and sufficient condition is given: a family \(\{ A_1,\ldots,A_{2n}\}\) of sets is halvable if and only if, for each partition \(J_1,\ldots ,J_t\) of \(\{ 1,\ldots ,2n\}\) with \(J_i\) odd for \(i=1,\dots, t-1\) (and no condition for \(J_t\) which may be even empty), the number of elements appearing in at least two of the sets \(A^*_1=\bigcup_{i\in J_1}A_i,\ldots ,A^*_{t-1}=\bigcup_{i\in J_{t-1}}A_i\) is at least \((t-1-|J_t|)/2\). This characterization is then used to obtain a new unified proof of a result from [\textit{P. Horák} and \textit{A. Rosa}, Decomposing Steiner triple systems into small configurations, Ars Comb. 26, 91-105 (1988; Zbl 0780.05008)] which states that a Steiner triple system can be decomposed into configurations of two intersecting triples and, if the number \(v\) of points satisfies \(v\neq 7,9\), into configurations of two disjoint triples.