Erdős-Szekeres theorem for \(k\)-flats (Q6045791)

The classical result of \textit{P. Erdős} and \textit{G. Szekeres} [Compos. Math. 2, 463--470, (1935; Zbl 0012.27010)] that for every \( n \geq 3\), there is an integer \(N = N(n)\), such that any set of \(N\) points in general position in the plane contains a subset of size \(n\) in convex position, where general position means that no 3 points are collinear. The paper under review extends the Erdős-Szekeres theorem to \(k\)-flats (affine subspaces of dimension \(k\)) in \(\mathbb{R}^d\). They say that a set of \(n\) \(k\)-flats in \(\mathbb{R}^d\) , \(\{U_1,\ldots,U_n\}\), is in \textit{convex position}, if there is a \(d\)-dimensional polytope \(P \subset \mathbb{R}^d\), such that \(U_i \cap P\) is a \(k\)-dimensional face of \(P\) for every \(1\leq i \leq n\). Here of course \(0 \leq k \leq d- 1\), and in the Erdős-Szekeres setting, \(k=0\). Assume \(d \geq 3\) and \(0 \leq k \leq d-2\). An \(n\)-tuple \(\{U_1,\ldots,U_n\}\) of \(k\)-flats is considered in \textit{general position}, if there is a \((d- k)\)-flat \(A\), such that \(U_i \cap A\) is a single point for every \(1\leq i \leq n\), no three of these \(n\) points are collinear, and their affine hull coincides with \(A\). (For \(k = 0\), this gives a weaker condition than what is typically considered as general position for points in \(\mathbb{R}^d\).) For the case of hyperplanes, that is \(k = d-1\), general position is defined differently: \(n \geq d\) hyperplanes in \(\mathbb{R}^d\) are in general position, if every \(d\) of them intersect in a single point, and these \(\binom{n}{d}\) points are distinct. The main result of the paper is that for all \(d\geq 2\), \(k\), \(n\) integers with \(0 \leq k \leq d -1\) and \(n \geq d-k +1\), there exists an integer \(N = N(k, d, n)\), such that every set of \(N\) \(k\)-flats in \(\mathbb{R}^d\) in general position contains some \(n\) \(k\)-flats in convex position. The paper also shows that for large enough \(n\), there are non-convex sets of \(k\)-flats of size \(n\).