DP-Colorings of Hypergraphs

Classical problems in hypergraph coloring theory are to estimate the minimum number of edges, $m_2(r)$ (respectively, $m^\ast_2(r)$), in a non-$2$-colorable $r$-uniform (respectively, $r$-uniform and simple) hypergraph. The best currently known bounds are $c \cdot \sqrt{r/\log r} \cdot 2^r \,\leqslant\, m_2(r) \,\leqslant\, C \cdot r^2 \cdot 2^r \qquad \text{and} \qquad c' \cdot r^{-\varepsilon} \cdot 4^r \,\leqslant\, m_2^\ast(r) \,\leqslant\, C' \cdot r^4 \cdot 4^r,$ for any fixed $\varepsilon > 0$ and some $c$, $c'$, $C$, $C' > 0$ (where $c'$ may depend on $\varepsilon$). In this paper we consider the same problems in the context of DP-coloring (also known as correspondence coloring), which is a generalization of list coloring introduced by Dvořák and Postle and related to local conflict coloring studied independently by Fraigniaud, Heinrich, and Kosowski. Let $\tilde{m}_2(r)$ (respectively, $\tilde{m}^\ast_2(r)$) denote the minimum number of edges in a non-$2$-DP-colorable $r$-uniform (respectively, $r$-uniform and simple) hypergraph. By definition, $\tilde{m}_2(r) \leqslant m_2(r)$ and $\tilde{m}^\ast_2(r)\leqslant m^\ast_2(r)$. While the proof of the bound $m^\ast_2(r) = Ω( r^{-3} 4^r)$ due to Erdős and Lovász also works for $\tilde{m}^\ast_2(r)$, we show that the trivial lower bound $\tilde{m}_2(r) \geqslant 2^{r-1}$ is asymptotically tight, i.e., $\tilde{m}_2(r) \leqslant (1 + o(1))2^{r-1}$. On the other hand, when $r \geqslant 2$ is even, we prove that the lower bound $\tilde{m}_2(r) \geqslant 2^{r-1}$ is not sharp, i.e., $\tilde{m}_2(r) \geqslant 2^{r-1}+1$. Whether this result holds for any odd values of $r$ remains an open problem. Nevertheless, we conjecture that the difference $\tilde{m}_2(r) - 2^{r-1}$ can be arbitrarily large.

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