Perfect Matching in 4 Uniform Hypergraphs

Perfect Matchings in 4-uniform hypergraphs
Imdadullah Khan
Department of Computer Science,
School of Science and Engineering,
Lahore University of Management Sciences,
Lahore, 54792, Pakistan
imdad.khan@lums.edu.pk
Abstract
A perfect matching in a 4-uniform hypergraph on n vertices is a subset of b n4 c disjoint edges. We
prove that if H is a sufficiently large
4-uniform hypergraph on n = 4k vertices such that every vertex
belongs to more than n−1 − 3n/4

3 3
edges, then H contains a perfect matching. A construction due to
Hàn, Person, and Schacht shows that this result is the best possible.
1 Introduction and Notation

For graphs we follow the notation in [3]. For a set T , we refer to all of its k-element subsets (k-sets for short)
as Tk and to the number of such k-sets as |Tk | . We say that H = (V (H), E(H)) is an r-uniform hypergraph

or r-graph for short, where V (H) is the set of vertices and E ⊂ V (H)

r is a family of r-sets of V (H). When
the graph referred to is clear from the context we will use V instead of V (H) and will identify H with E(H).
For an r-graph H and a set D = {v1 , . . . , vd } ∈ Vd , 1 ≤ d ≤ r, the degree of D in H, degH (D) = degr (D)

denotes the number of edges of H that contain D. For 1 ≤ d ≤ r, let

V
δd = δd (H) = min degr (D) : D ∈ .
d
We say that H(V1 , . . . , Vr ) is an r-partite r-graph if there is a partition of V (H) into r sets, i.e., V (H) =
V1 ∪ · · · ∪ Vr , and every edge of H uses exactly one vertex from each Vi . We call it a balanced r-partite
r-graph if all Vi ’s are of the same size. Furthermore, H(V1 , . . . , Vr ) is a complete r-partite r-graph if every
r-tuple that uses one vertex from each Vi belongs to E(H). We denote a balanced complete r-partite r-graph
by K (r) (t), where t = |Vi |. For r = 3, we refer to the balanced 3-partite 3-graph H(V1 , V2 , V3 ), where |Vi | = 4
as a 4 × 4 × 4 3-graph.
When
A and B are disjoint subsets of V (H) of an r-graph H, for a vertex v ∈ A we denote by
B
B

degr v, r−1 the number of (r − 1)-sets of B that make edges with v, while er A, r−1 is the sum

B B B |B| B

of degr v, r−1 over all v ∈ A and dr A, r−1 = er A, r−1 /|A| r−1 . We denote by H A, r−1

C
such an r-graph when all edges use one vertex from A and r − 1 vertices from B. Similarly H A, B, r−2
is an r-graph where A, B, and C are disjoint subsets of V (H) and every edge in H uses one vertex each
from A and B and r − 2 vertices from C. Degree of a vertex v ∈ A is the number of (r − 1)-sets of V (H),
1
containing one vertex from B and r − 2 vertices from C that make
edges with v. Degree of a vertex in B is
C
C

similarly defined. er A, B, r−2 is the number of edges in H A, B, r−2 , while its density is

C

C
er A, B, r−2
dr A, B, = |C|
.
r−2

|A||B| r−2

When A and B are disjoint subsets of V (H), for 1 < k < r − 1, H A B
k , r−k is an r-graph where all

edges use k vertices from A and r − k vertices from B. er A B

k , r−k is similarly defined as above. When
A1 , . . . , Ar are disjoint subsets of V (H), for a vertex v ∈ A1 we denote by degr (v, (A2 ×· · ·×Ar )) the number
of edges in the r-partite r-graph induced by subsets {v}, A2 , . . . , Ar , and er (A1 , (A2 × · · · × Ar )) is the sum
of degr (v, (A2 × · · · × Ar )) over all v ∈ A1 . Similarly
er (A1 , (A2 × · · · × Ar ))
dr (A1 , (A2 × · · · × Ar )) =
|A1 × A2 × · · · × Ar |
An r-graph H on n vertices is η-dense if it has at least η nr edges. We use the notation dr (H) ≥ η to

refer to an η-dense r-graph H. A bipartite graph G = (A, B) is η-dense if d(A, B) = e(A, B)/(|A||B|) ≥ η.
For U ⊂ V , H|U is the restriction of H to U . For simplicity we refer to dr (H|U ) as dr (U ) and to E(H|U ) as
E(U ). A matching in H is a set of disjoint edges of H, and a perfect matching is a matching that contains
all vertices. We will only deal with r-graphs on n vertices where n = rk for some integer k; we denote this
by n ∈ rZ. Throughout the paper log denotes the base 2 logarithm and a b means that a is sufficiently
smaller than b.
Definition 1. Let d, r, and n be integers such that 1 ≤ d < r, and let n ∈ rZ. Denote by md (r, n) the
smallest integer m, such that every r-graph H on n vertices with δd (H) ≥ m contains a perfect matching.
For graphs (r = 2), by Dirac’s theorem on Hamiltonicity of graphs [6], it is easy to see that m1 (2, n) ≤
n/2, and since the complete bipartite graph Kn/2−1,n/2+1 does not have a perfect matching we get that
m1 (2, n) = n/2. For r ≥ 3 and d = r − 1, it follows from a result of Rödl, Ruciński and Szemerédi on
Hamiltonicity of an r-graph √ [20] that mr−1 (r, n) ≤ n/2 + o(n). Kühn and Osthus [11] improved this result
to mr−1 (r, n) ≤ n/2 + 3r2 n log n. This bound was further sharpened in [19] to mr−1 (r, n) ≤ n/2 + C log n.
Finally, Rödl, Ruciński and Szemerédi [21] settled the problem for d = r − 1; they proved that mr−1 (r, n) =
n/2 − r + cn,r , where cn,r ∈ {3/2, 2, 5/2, 3} depends on the parity of r and n. A slightly weaker bound,
mr−1 (r, n) ≤ n/2 + r/4, was determined in [17]. Kühn and Osthus [11] and Aharoni, Georgakopoulos and
Sprüssel [1] studied the minimum degree threshold for perfect matching in r-partite r-graphs.
The
1 n−d
case d < r − 1 is rather hard. Pikhurko [15] proved that for all d ≥ r/2, md (r, n) is close to
2 r−d . This result was improved by Treglown and Zhao [22]. Hàn, Person and Schacht [8] proved that for
1 ≤ d < r/2
r−d n−d

md (r, n) ≤ + o(1) .
r r−d
Markström and Ruciński in [14] improved the bound on md (r, n) for 1 ≤ d < r/2, by proving that
r−d n−d

1
md (r, n) ≤ − r−d + o(1) .
r r r−d
2
A survey of these and other related results appear in [16]. In [8] the authors posed the following conjecture
(see also. [16, p. 23]).
Conjecture 2. For all 1 ≤ d < r/2,
( r−d )
r−1 n−d

1
md (r, n) ∼ max ,1 − .
2 r r−d
Note that for r = 4 and d = 1 the above bound yields
37 n − 1

m1 (4, n) ∼
64 3
Improving an old result of Daykin and Häggvist [5], Hàn, Person and Schacht [8] proved an approximate
version of their conjecture for the case r = 3 and d = 1. Conjecture 2 was settled in [10] and [12] for
r = 3 and d = 1. Furthermore for r = 4 and d = 1, Markström and Ruciński [14] proved that m1 (4, n) ≤
42 n−1
64 + o(1) 3 . Alon et al. [2] studied perfect matchings and perfect fractional matchings in uniform
hypergraphs and in particular asymptotically determined m1 (4, n) and m1 (5, n). Lo and Markström [13]
determined the exact degree threshold for r = 3 and d = 1 for the case of 3-partite 3-graphs. In this paper
we settle an exact version of Conjecture 2 for the case r = 4 and d = 1. The main result in this paper is the
following theorem.
Theorem 3. There exists an integer n0 such that if H is a 4-graph on n ≥ n0 (n ∈ 4Z) vertices and
n−1

3n/4
δ1 (H) ≥ − + 1, (1)
3 3
then H has a perfect matching.

On the other hand the following construction from [8] shows that this bound on minimum degree is tight.
Construction 4. Let n ∈ 4Z and let A and B be disjoint sets with |A| = n4 − 1 and |B| = n − |A|. Let
H = (V (H), E(H)) be a 4-graph such that V (H) = A ∪ B and E(H) is the set of all 4-sets of V (H), Q,
such that |Q ∩ A| ≥ 1.
We have δ1 (H) = n−1 − 3n/4

3 3 (the degree of a vertex in B), but since every edge in any matching
must use at least one vertex from A, the maximum matching in H is of size |A| = n4 − 1.
1.1 Outline of the proof

We distinguish two cases to prove Theorem 3 based on whether or not H is ‘far from’ the extremal example
of Construction 4.
Definition 5 (Extremal Case with parameter α). For a constant 0 < α 1, we say that H is α-extremal,
if the following is satisfied; otherwise it is α-non-extremal. There exists a B ⊂ V (H) such that
• |B| ≥ 43 − α n,

• d4 (B) < α.
3
|A| = n4 − 1
|B| = 3n
4 +1
Figure 1: The extremal example: Every edge intersects the set A.
When H is α-non-extremal, we use the absorbing technique to find a perfect matching in H. The absorbing
lemma (Lemma 16) roughly states, that any 4-graph satisfying (1), contains a small matching M with the
property that every not too large subset of vertices can be absorbed into M . Therefore, we first remove a
small absorbing matching M from H then we find an almost perfect matching in H|V \V (M ) . The vertices in
V \ V (M ) that are left out from the almost perfect matching are absorbed into M to get a perfect matching
in H. In Section 4, we find such an almost perfect matching; in fact we cover almost all vertices in V \ V (M )
by a set of disjoint balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs. To achieve this, using the tools developed in
Section 2, we find an initial set of disjoint 4-partite 4-graphs covering at least n/4 vertices. The number of
vertices covered by the 4-partite 4-graphs is increased using the iterative procedure given in Section 4. To
get a new set of 4-partite 4-graphs we show that if H is α-non-extremal, then in each iteration by (1), there
must be a specific edge structure between the vertices of the 4-partite 4-graphs in the current cover and the
remaining vertices. Using the lemmas given in Section 3, in each case we increase the number of vertices
covered by 4-partite 4-graphs.
On the other hand when H is α-extremal, then by definition very few edges are spanned by the set B.
By (1) this implies that almost all vertices in A = V \ B make edges with almost all 3-sets of vertices in B.
In section 5, we first rearrange the vertices in A and B such that |B| = 3n 4 . Then we match the vertices in
A and B that do not satisfy the typical degree condition. Finally, the remaining vertices of A are matched
to the 3-sets of the remaining vertices of B using a König-Hall-type argument.
2 Main tools
We use the following two easy observations that will, nevertheless, be useful later on.
Fact 6. Let G(X, Y ) be a bipartite graph with |X| = c1 log n, |Y | ≥ c2 n for some constants 0 < c1 , c2 < 1
and let n ≥ n0 (c1 , c2 ). If
d(X, Y ) ≥ 2η,
then there exists a complete bipartite subgraph G0 (X 0 , Y 0 ) of G such that X 0 ⊂ X, Y 0 ⊂ Y, |X 0 | ≥ η|X|, and |Y 0 | ≥
η|Y |
≥ ηc2 n(1−c1 ) .
2|X|
Proof. First consider the set Y1 = {y ∈ Y : deg(y, X) ≥ η|X|}. We must have that |Y1 | ≥ η|Y |, as otherwise
4
we will have
e(X, Y ) < |Y1 ||X| + |Y \ Y1 |η|X| < η|Y ||X| + η|Y ||X| = 2η|X||Y |.
Now consider the neighborhoods in X of the vertices in Y1 . The number of such neighborhoods is
at most 2|X| = nc1 . Therefore, by averaging there must be a neighborhood that appears for at least
|Y1 | η|Y | (1−c1 )
nc1 ≥ nc1 ≥ ηc2 n vertices of Y1 , which gives us the desired complete bipartite subgraph.
Our main tool in this paper is the following result of Erdös [7] on the existence of balanced complete
r-partite r-graphs as subgraphs in r-graphs satisfying certain density conditions.
Lemma 7. For every integer l ≥ 1 there is an integer n0 = n0 (r, l) such that every r-graph on n > n0
r−1
vertices that has at least nr−1/l edges contains a K (r) (l).
In particular Lemma 7 implies (see also [7], Theorem 2) that for 0 < η 1 and 2 ≤ r ≤ 4, if H is an
r-graph on n > n0 (η) vertices with
n
|E(H)| ≥ η ,
r
then H contains a K (r) (l), where
l = η(log n)1/(r−1) .
2r! n nr

To see this, first note that for small η we have η > 21/η r−1 , and for large n and 2 ≤ r ≤ 4 we have r ≥ 2r! .
Therefore, we get that
nr nr nr

n r−1
|E(H)| ≥ η ≥η ≥ 1/ηr−1 = 1/(log n·ηr−1 ) = nr−1/l .
r 2r! 2 n
Hence, by Lemma 7 we get the desired K (r) (l).

The following three lemmas are repeatedly used in section 4.
3
Lemma 8. Let H(A, B3 ) be a 4-graph, |A| = c1 m, |B| = c2 2m for some constants 0 < c1 , c2 < 1 and

m ≥ m0 (c1 , c2 , η). If
B
d4 A, ≥ 2η,
3
then there exists a complete 4-partite 4-graph H 0 (A1 , B1 , B2 , B3 ), with A1 ⊂ A and B1 , B2 , and B3 are
disjoint subsets of B such that |A1 | = |B1 | = |B2 | = |B3 | = η|A|.
Proof. Consider the auxiliary bipartite graph G(A, Y ), where Y = B3 and a ∈ A is connected to y =

{b1 , b2 , b3 } if {a, b1 , b2 , b3 } is an edge of H. Applying Fact 6 on G(A, Y ) we get a complete bipartite subgraph
G0 (A1 , T1 ). Clearly, all 3-sets in T1 ⊂ B3 make edges with every vertex in A1 ⊂ A. Furthermore, we have
3 3

η |B| c2 2m 3−c1 /m2

3
|B| c32 η m3 (3−c1 /m2 ) c32 η |B|

η η 2
3
|T1 | ≥ c1 m ≥ c m
= c m
= 2 = ≥ |B|3−1/(η|A|) ,
2 10 2 1 10 2 1 10 10 c2
where the last inequality follows when m is sufficiently large and η, c1 , and c2 are small constants.
Now construct an auxiliary 3-graph H1 , where V (H1 ) = B and edges of H1 correspond to 3-sets in T1 .
Applying Lemma 7 on H1 (for r = 3) we get a complete 3-partite 3-graph with color classes B1 , B2 , and B3
each of size η|A|. Clearly A1 , B1 , B2 , and B3 correspond to color classes of a complete 4-partite 4-graph in
H as in the statement of the lemma.
5
3
Lemma 9. Let H(A, B, Z2 ) be a 4-graph with |A| = |B| = c1 m and |Z| = c2 2m for some constants

0 < c1 , c2 < 1 and m ≥ m0 (c1 , c2 , η). If

Z
d4 A, B, ≥ 2η,
2
then there exists a complete 4-partite 4-graph H 0 (A1 , B1 , Z1 , Z2 ), with A1 ⊂ A, B1 ⊂ B, and Z1 and Z2 are
disjoint subsets of Z such that |A1 | = |B1 | = |Z1 | = |Z2 | = η log |A|/2.
Proof. First consider the auxiliary bipartite graph G(X, Y ), where X = A × B, Y = Z2 , and (a, b) = x ∈ X

is connected to {z1 , z2 } = y ∈ Y if {a, b, z1 , z2 } is an edge of H. Applying Fact 6 on G(X, Y ) we get a

complete bipartite subgraph G0 (X1 , Y1 ). Clearly, all pairs in Y1 ⊂ Z2 make edges with every pair of vertices
in X1 ⊂ A × B. Furthermore, |X1 | ≥ η|A||B| and
2
m3 2−c21 /m
η |Z| 2
η c 2 2 c22 η m3 (2−c21 /m) c22 η |Z|

|Y1 | ≥ = = 2 = ≥ |Z|2−1/(log |A|) ,
3 2(c1 m)2 3 2(c1 m)2 3 3 c2
where the last inequality follows when m is sufficiently large and η, c1 , and c2 are small constants.
Now construct an auxiliary graph G1 where V (G1 ) = Z and edges of G1 correspond to pairs in Y1 .
Applying Lemma 7 on G1 (for r = 2) we get a complete bipartite graph with color classes Z1 and Z2 each
of size log |A|.
Similarly construct an auxiliary bipartite graph G2 with color classes A and B, and edges of G2 correspond
to pairs in X1 . We have |X1 | ≥ η|A||B| (hence d(G2 ) ≥ η/2), applying Lemma 7 on G2 (for r = 2) we get a
complete bipartite graph with color classes A1 and B1 , each of size η log |A|/2. Clearly A1 , B1 , and a subset
of vertices each from Z1 and Z2 of size |A1 | correspond to color classes of the balanced complete 4-partite
4-graph in H as in the statement of the lemma.
3
Lemma 10. Let H(A, B, C, Z) be a 4-partite 4-graph with |A| = |B| = |C| = c1 m and |Z| = c2 2m for some
constants 0 < c1 , c2 < 1 and m ≥ m0 (c1 , c2 , η). If
d4 (Z, (A × B × C)) ≥ 2η,

0
p there exists a complete 4-partite 4-graph H (A1 , B1 , C1 , Z1 ), such that |A1 | = |B1 | = |C1 | = |Z1 | =
then
η
5 log |A|.
Proof. Similarly as above, consider the auxiliary bipartite graph G(X, Z), where X = A × B × C and a
vertex z ∈ Z is connected to a 3-set (a, b, c) ∈ X if {a, b, c, z} is an edge of H. Applying Fact 6 on G(X, Z),
we get a complete bipartite subgraph G1 (X1 , Z1 ), where
η|Z| 3 3
|X1 | ≥ η|A|3 and |Z1 | ≥ |X|
≥ ηc2 2m (1−c1 ) > |A|.
2
By construction every vertex in Z1 makes edges with every 3-set in X1 ⊂ A × B × C. Let H1 be a 3-partite
3-graph where the color classes are A, B and C and edges correspond to 3-sets in X1 . Since |X1 | ≥ η|A|3 ,
we have d3 (H1 ) ≥ η/5. Applying Lemma 7 on H1 (for r = 3), we get apbalanced complete 3-partite 3-graph
with color classes A1 , B1 , and C1 such that |A1 | = |B1 | = |C1 | ≥ η5 log |A|. Clearly A1 , B1 , C1 , and a
subset of Z1 of size |A1 | correspond to the color classes of the required complete 4-partite 4-graph.
In the subsequent sections we will use the following lemmas.
6
Lemma 11. For k ≥ 2, every k-graph H has a subgraph H 0 such that δ1 (H 0 ) ≥ |E(H)|/|V (H)|.
Proof. Let H1 be a subgraph of H such that |E(H1 )|/|V (H1 )| is as large as possible. Clearly |E(H1 )|/|V (H1 )| ≥
|E(H)|/|V (H)|. If |V (H1 )| = 1, then we are trivially done. Assume that δ1 (H1 ) < |E(H)|/|V (H)|, as oth-
erwise we are done. Let v ∈ V (H1 ) such that degH1 (v) < |E(H)|/|V (H)| and let H2 be the induced graph
on V (H1 ) \ {v}. We have
|E(H2 )| |E(H1 )| − |E(H)|/|V (H)| |E(H1 )| − |E(H1 )|/|V (H1 )| |E(H1 )|(|V (H1 )| − 1)
> ≥ = ,
|V (H2 )| |V (H1 )| − 1 |V (H1 )| − 1 |V (H1 )|(|V (H1 )| − 1)
which is a contradiction to the maximality of E(H1 )/V (H1 ).

Lemma 12. Every graph G on n vertices has a matching of size min{δ(G), b n2 c}.
Proof. Assume that M is a maximum matching in G and |M | < min{δ(G), b n2 c}. Since |M | < b n2 c, there
are at least two vertices u and v in V (G) \ V (M ). Since M is a maximum matching, no edges are spanned by
vertices in V (G)\V (M ). Furthermore, for any edge (x, y) ∈ M we must have deg(u, {x, y})+deg(v, {x, y}) ≤
2. Hence, we get that deg(u) + deg(v) ≤ 2|M | < 2δ(G), which is a contradiction.
Lemma 13. Let 0 < η < 1. Every 3-graph H on n ≥ n0 vertices, with δ1 (H) ≥ η n3 /n, has a matching of

size ηn/24.
Proof. Assume that the maximum matching M in H has k < ηn/24 edges. Clearly H|V (H)\V (M ) has no
edges. This implies that for any vertex v ∈ V (H) \ V (M ) we have
η 2 n2 ηn2 ηn2

3k n
deg3 (v) < + 3k · n < + < <η /n,
2 128 8 7 3
which is a contradiction.
Lemma 14. Let 0 < η < 1. Every 3-graph H on n ≥ n0 (η) vertices with d3 (H) ≥ (1 − 2η) has a matching
of size (1 − 3η)n/3.
Proof. Let M be a maximum matching in H and suppose that |M | = (1−c)n/3 for 0 < c < 1. Let A = V (M )
and B = V (H) \ A, clearly d3 (B) = 0. If there are two disjoint pairs of vertices (a1 , b1 ), (a2 , b2 ) ∈ B2
making edges with two distinct vertices of an edge (x, y, z) ∈ M , then we can extend M . To see this suppose
(x, a1 , b1 ), (y, a2 , b2 ) ∈ E(H), then we can extend M by taking these two edges and discarding (x, y, z). This
implies that e3 (A, B2 ) ≤ |A| |B|

2 /3. For v ∈ B define the link graph of v with respect to a pair of edges
XY ∈ M

2 to be the balanced bipartite graph on 6 vertices Lv (XY ). Vertices of Lv (XY ) correspond to
V (X) = x1 , x2 , x3 and V (Y ) = y1 , y2 , y3 and its edges correspond to pairs in V (X) × V (Y ) that make edges
with v. It is easy to see that if such a link graph has at least 7 edges, then it contains a perfect matching.
We show that very few vertices have a perfect matching (hence at least 7 edges) in many link graphs. Let
B1 ⊂ B consists of those vertices v ∈ B for which there are at least η|M |2 pairs XY ∈ M 2 , such that Lv (XY )
M

contains a perfect matching. Suppose |B1 | > η|B|. Then there is a pair XY ∈ 2 and at least η 2 |B| vertices
v ∈ B1 such that Lv (XY ) has a perfect matching. Note that there are only a constant number of different
perfect matchings in Lv (XY ) and η 2 |B| is large (n ≥ n0 ). Hence, there must be at least 3 vertices a, b, c ∈ B1
such that La (XY ), Lb (XY ), and Lc (XY ) has the same perfect matching (say (x1 , y1 ), (x2 , y2 ), (x3 , y3 )). We
can now extend M by discarding the edges X and Y and adding (x1 , y1 , a), (x2 , y2 , b), (x3 , y3 , c). So for most
7
vertices in B the link graph with respect to most of the pairs in M

2 has at most 6 edges. This implies that
A 6 |A|

e3 ( 2 , B) ≤ (3|M | + ( 9 + 2η) 2 )|B|. We get that
|A| |A| |A| |B| (1 − c)n (1 − c)n (1 − c)n cn

6 6
e3 (H) ≤ + ( + 3η) |B| + ≤ + ( + 3η) cn +
3 9 2 3 2 3 9 2 3 2
(1 − c)n3
(1 − c)2 + (2 + 9η)c(1 − c) + c2 .

≤
6
This together with e3 (H) ≥ (1 − 2η) n3 gives us that (1 − c) ≥ (1 − 3η).

Lemma 15 ([4]). Let H be an r-graph with r ≥ 2, k ≥ 1 and |V (H)| = n > 2r3 (k + 1). If
n−1 n−k

δ1 (H) > − ,
r−1 r−1
then H contains a matching of size k.

Lemma 16. (Absorbing Lemma [8]) For every η > 0, there is an integer n0 = n0 (η) such that if H is
a 4-graph on n ≥ n0 vertices with δ1 (H) ≥ (1/2 + 2η) n3 , then there exists a matching M in H of size

|M | ≤ η 4 n/4 such that for every set W ⊂ V \ V (M ) of size at most η 8 n ≥ |W | ∈ 4Z, there exists a matching
covering exactly the vertices in V (M ) ∪ W .
3 Auxiliary results
For a 4 × 4 × 4 3-graph, denote by Q1 , Q2 , Q3 its three color classes and let Q1 = {a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 }, Q2 =
{b1 , b2 , b3 , b4 } and Q3 = {c1 , c2 , c3 , c4 }. For two vertices, x ∈ Qi , y ∈ Qj , i 6= j, N (x, y) denotes the
neighborhood of the pair (x, y), i.e. the set of vertices in the third color class that make edges with the pair
(x, y). Let deg(x, y) = |N (x, y)|. For two disjoint pairs (x1 , y1 ) and (x2 , y2 ) in Qi × Qj , i 6= j the pairs
(x1 , y2 ) and (x2 , y1 ) are called the crossing pairs and the value deg(x1 , y2 ) + deg(x2 , y1 ) is referred to as the
crossing degree sum. We define the following four special 4 × 4 × 4 3-graphs.
Definition 17. H432 is a 4 × 4 × 4 3-graph such that there exist three disjoint pairs in a Qi × Qj , i 6= j,
with degrees at least 4, 3, and 2 respectively.
In the figures the triplets joined by a line represent an edge in the 3-graph. Let H432 be as in Figure
2(a) or Figure 2(b). If the H432 does not have a perfect matching, then we must have deg(b4 , c4 ) = 0 (as
otherwise we clearly get a perfect matching).
Definition 18. H4221 is a 4 × 4 × 4 3-graph such that there exist four disjoint pairs in a Qi × Qj , i 6= j,
with degrees at least 4, 2, 2, and 1 respectively.
Let the H4221 be as in Figure 3(a). If |N (b2 , c2 ) ∪ N (b3 , c3 ) ∪ N (b4 , c4 )| = 3, then we get a perfect
matching in H4221 . We only consider the H4221 that has no perfect matching.
Definition 19. H3321 is a 4 × 4 × 4 3-graph such that there exist four disjoint pairs in a Qi × Qj , i 6= j,
with degrees at least 3, 3, 2, and 1 respectively.
8
b1 4 b1 4
a1 c1 a1 c1
b2 3 b2 3
a2 c2 a2 c2
b3 b3
2 2
a3 c3 a3 c3
b4 b4
a4 c4 a4 c4
(a) H432 with |N (b2 , c2 ) ∪ N (b3 , c3 )| = 3 (b) H432 with |N (b2 , c2 ) ∪ N (b3 , c3 )| = 4
Figure 2: Two types of H432 with no perfect matching. Labels on segments are degrees of the pairs.
b1 b1
4 3
a1 c1 a1 c1
b2 2 b2 3
a2 c2 a2 c2
b3 b3
2 2
a3 c3 a3 c3
b4 b4
1 1
a4 c4 a4 c4
(a) H4221 with no perfect matching (b) H3321 with no perfect matching
Figure 3: H4221 and H3321 . H3321 is all solid line segments plus either the dashed segment or the dotted
segment, depending on whether or not N (b4 , c4 ) ∩ N (b3 , c3 ) = ∅.
There are two types of H3321 with no perfect matching, depending on whether or not the degree 2 pair
and the degree 1 pair have a common neighbor. In Figure 3(b), the case when the neighborhood of the
degree 1 pair is disjoint from that of the degree 2 pair is represented with a dashed line segment, while the
other case is represented with a dotted line segment. The treatment in Lemma 21 and Lemma 26 of both
cases is the same, we therefore refer to both of them as H3321 .
Definition 20. Hext is a 4 × 4 × 4 3-graph with exactly 37 edges, such that there are three vertices, one in
each of Q1 , Q2 , and Q3 , and all edges are incident to at least one of these three vertices.
Note that Hext is unique up to isomorphism. The following lemma that classifies 4 × 4 × 4 3-graphs with
9
at least 37 edges, will be very useful in the subsequent section.
Lemma 21. Let H(Q1 , Q2 , Q3 ) be a 4 × 4 × 4 3-graph. If |E(H)| ≥ 37, then one of the following must be
true.
1. H has a perfect matching.
2. H has a subgraph isomorphic to H3321 .

5. H is isomorphic to Hext .
Proof. We consider the following cases based on degrees of pairs in Qi × Qj .
Case 1: There is Qi and Qj , i 6= j, such that no pair in Qi × Qj has degree 4.
Let Q2 , Q3 be such a pair. Since |E(H)| ≥ 37 and no pair has degree 4, at least 5 out of the 16 pairs in
Q2 × Q3 must be of degree 3. This implies that there must be at least 2 disjoint pairs of degree 3. Consider
the largest set of disjoint pairs of degree 3 in Q2 × Q3 . If 4 disjoint pairs in Q2 × Q3 are of degree 3, then
we clearly have a H3321 as a subgraph. Therefore, we consider the following two subcases.
Subcase 1.1 There are 3 disjoint pairs in Q2 × Q3 of degree 3.
Assume that (b1 , c1 ), (b2 , c2 ) and (b3 , c3 ) are the degree 3 pairs. If deg(b4 , c4 ) ≥ 1, then we have a H3321 .
So assume that deg(b4 , c4 ) = 0, The total number of edges incident to pairs in {b1 , b2 , b3 } × {c1 , c2 , c3 } is
at most 27 (as there are 9 pairs and degree of every pair is at most 3), the remaining at least 10 edges are
incident to either b4 or c4 . This implies that there must be at least one pair (say (b3 , c3 )), such that the
crossing degree sum of (b3 , c3 ) and (b4 , c4 ) is at least 4. Therefore, we have that the degree of one crossing
pair is at least 2 and that of the other crossing pair is at least 1. These two crossing pairs together with
(b1 , c1 ) and (b2 , c2 ) give us a subgraph isomorphic to H3321 .
Subcase 1.2 There are exactly 2 disjoint pairs in Q2 × Q3 of degree 3.
Assume that (b1 , c1 ) and (b2 , c2 ) are the degree 3 pairs. Again, the total number of edges incident to pairs
in {b1 , b2 } × {c1 , c2 } is at most 12 (as there are 4 pairs and degree of every pair is at most 3). If there
is a pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } (say (b3 , c3 )) such that the crossing degree sum of (b1 , c1 ) and (b3 , c3 ) is at
least 6, then since there is no degree 4 pair we must have that both deg(b1 , c3 ) and deg(c1 , b3 ) are 3. Now
these crossing pairs together with (b2 , c2 ) are 3 disjoint pairs of degree 3, which is a contradiction to the
maximality of the set of disjoint pairs of degree 3. Therefore, we must have that the sum of degrees of pairs
in {b1 , b2 } × {c3 , c4 } ∪ {c1 , c2 } × {b3 , b4 } is at most 4 × 5 = 20. Hence the number of edges of H incident to
pairs in {b3 , b4 }×{c3 , c4 } is at least 37−12−20 = 5 and no pair has degree 3. Therefore, in {b3 , b4 }×{c3 , c4 },
we can find two disjoint pairs, (say (b3 , c3 ) and (b4 , c4 )) with degrees at least 2 and 1 respectively, and we
get a subgraph isomorphic to H3321 .
Case 2: There is a Qi and Qj , i 6= j such that exactly one disjoint pair in Qi × Qj has degree 4.
Let Q2 , Q3 be such a pair. Consider the largest set of disjoint pairs in Q2 × Q3 with one pair of degree 4 and
the remaining of degree 3. Note that if there are two disjoint pairs of degree 3 besides the degree 4 pair in
the selected set, then clearly we have an H432 . So we consider the following two subcases based on whether
or not there is a pair of degree 3 in the selected set. Let (b1 , c1 ) be the degree 4 pair in the selected set.
10
Subcase 2.1 There is a pair in Q2 × Q3 disjoint from (b1 , c1 ) with degree 3.
Assume that deg(b2 , c2 ) = 3. We make the following observations.
Observation 1. If any pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } has degree at least 2, then that pair together with (b1 , c1 )
and (b2 , c2 ) makes an H432 .
Observation 2. If both deg(b1 , c2 ) and deg(b2 , c1 ) are 4, then we get two disjoint degree 4 pairs. Therefore,
we have that the number of edges incident to pairs in {b1 , b2 } × {c1 , c2 } is at most 4 + 3 + 4 + 3 = 14.
Observation 3. Suppose there is a pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } (say (b3 , c3 )) such that the crossing degree
sum of (b2 , c2 ) and (b3 , c3 ) is at least 5. Then we must have that one crossing pair is of degree 3, and
the other is of degree at least 2 (because none of them can be of degree 4). These two crossing pairs
together with (b1 , c1 ) make the disjoint pairs of an H432 . Therefore, we must have that (b2 , c2 ) and
any pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } have their crossing degree sum at most 4.
Observation 4. Similarly (b1 , c1 ) and any pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } have their crossing degree sum at most
6.
We consider the following two cases. First assume that there is a pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } such that
(b1 , c1 ) and that pair has their crossing degree sum equal to 6. Without loss of generality say (b1 , c1 ) and
(b3 , c3 ) have their crossing degree sum equal to 6. If the degrees of crossing pairs are 4 and 2, then these
crossing pairs and (b2 , c2 ) makes the disjoint pairs of an H432 . On the other hand if both the crossing
pairs have degree 3, then (b1 , c3 ), (b3 , c1 ) and (b2 , c2 ) are three disjoint pairs of degree 3. From Observation
1 we have deg(b3 , c3 ) ≤ 1 and from Observation 3 the crossing degree sum of (b3 , c3 ) and (b2 , c2 ) is at
most 4. Which together with Observation 2 gives us that the total number of edges incident to pairs in
{b1 , b2 , b3 } × {c1 , c2 , c3 } is at most 14 + 6 + 1 + 4 = 25. Now if deg(b4 , c4 ) = 1, then we have an H3321 ,
otherwise we have that the number of edges containing either b4 or c4 , but not both, is at least 37 − 25 = 12.
By Observation 1, we have that both deg(b4 , c3 ) and deg(b3 , c4 ) are at most 1 hence we must have that the
crossing degree sum of (b2 , c2 ) and (b4 , c4 ) is at least 4 with one crossing pair of degree at least 1 and the
other of degree at least 2. These crossing pairs together with (b1 , c3 ) and (b3 , c1 ) gives us an H3321 .
On the other hand suppose that for any pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } and (b1 , c1 ) their crossing degree sum is at
most 5. Then the number of edges incident to pairs in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } is at least 37 − 14 − 4(2) − 5(2) = 5.
Which implies that there must be a degree 2 pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 }, hence by Observation 1, we get an
H432 .
Subcase 2.2 There is no pair of degree 3 disjoint from (b1 , c1 ).
In this case again, as in Observation 2, the crossing degree sum of (b1 , c1 ) and any pair in {b2 , b3 , b4 } ×
{c2 , c3 , c4 } is at most 6 (as any other case results in two disjoint pairs of degree 4 and 3 which is subcase
2.1). Hence the number of edges incident to pairs in {b2 , b3 , b4 } × {c2 , c3 , c4 } is at least 37 − 4 − 3(6) = 15
and no pair has degree 3. Which implies that there are three disjoint pairs in {b2 , b3 , b4 } × {c2 , c3 , c4 } with
degrees 2, 2 and at least 1 respectively. These pairs and (b1 , c1 ) make the 4 disjoint pairs of an H4221 .
Case 3: In every Qi and Qj , i 6= j there are exactly two disjoint pairs in Qi × Qj with degree 4.
First note that, if there is a Qi and Qj , i 6= j such that there are three or more disjoints pairs in Qi × Qj
with degree 4, then we clearly get an H432 . Therefore, these three cases cover all possibilities. Consider Q2
and Q3 and assume that (b1 , c1 ) and (b2 , c2 ) are the two disjoint pairs with degree 4. We make the following
observations.
11
Observation 5. If any pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } has degree at least 2, then that pair together with (b1 , c1 )
and (b2 , c2 ) make the disjoint pairs of an H432 . Therefore, the total number of edges spanned by pairs
in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } is at most 4.
Observation 6. For any of (b1 , c1 ) and (b2 , c2 ) and any pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } their crossing degree sum
can be at most 5. Indeed, otherwise say the crossing degree sum of (b1 , c1 ) and (b3 , c3 ) is 6, then we
must have that one crossing pair has degree at least 3, and the other has degree at least 2. These
crossing pairs and (b2 , c2 ) make the disjoint pairs of an H432 . Furthermore, if any such crossing degree
sum is 5, then by the same reasoning as above, it must be that one crossing pair is of degree 4 and the
other is of degree 1.
Observation 7. If the total number of edges spanned by pairs in {b1 , b2 } × {c1 , c2 } is at most 12, then the
number of edges that use one vertex from {b1 , b2 , c1 , c2 } and one vertex from {b3 , b4 , c3 , c4 } is at least
37 − 12 − 4 = 21. Hence, there will be a pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } (say (b3 , c3 )) such that crossing
degree sum of (b3 , c3 ) and at least one of (b1 , c1 ) and (b2 , c2 ) is at least 6, and by Observation 6 we get
an H432 .
Observation 8. If any 2 × 4 × 4 3-graph that is a subgraph of H has at least 29 edges, then we get an
H432 . To see this suppose that H 0 (Q1 , Q2 , {c1 , c2 }) has at least 29 edges. There must be at least three
vertices in Q2 such that each one of them is part of at least three pairs in Q1 × Q2 that are of degree
at least 2 in H 0 . Indeed suppose that there are at most two such vertices in Q2 (say b1 and b2 ). Then
using the fact that the maximum degree of a pair in Q1 × Q2 in H 0 is 2, we get that b1 and b2 can be
contained in at most 2(4 · 2) = 16 edges. While at most 2 pairs containing either b3 and b4 can be of
degree 2, we get that the number of edges containing either b3 and b4 is at most 2 · (2 · 2 + 2 · 1) = 12
which implies that |E(H 0 )| ≤ 28, a contradiction. Now since in Q2 there are at least 3 vertices such
that each one of them is part of at least 3 pairs in Q1 × Q2 of degree at least 2. This implies that there
must be a degree 2 pair disjoint from the two degree 4 pairs in Q1 × Q2 (guaranteed in Case 3), which
gives us an H432 .
The above observations are true for any two disjoint pairs of degree 4. We choose two disjoint pairs of degree
4, (say (b1 , c1 ) and (b2 , c2 )) in Q2 × Q3 such that (i) c1 has the maximum vertex degree among all vertices
that are part of some pairs of degree 4, and (ii) deg(b1 , c2 ) is as small as possible. Let deg(b1 , c2 ) = x. Note
that by Observation 7, we have x ≥ 1. We consider the following cases based on the value of x.
Subcase 3.1 x = 4.
Note that the number of edges in {b1 , b2 } × {c1 , c2 } is at most 16 (deg(b2 , c1 ) ≤ 4). First we show that
both deg(b1 , c3 ), deg(b1 , c4 ) ≤ 1. If deg(b1 , c3 ) ≥ 2, then as in Observation 6 both deg(b3 , c1 ) and deg(b4 , c1 )
can be at most 2. Hence by the maximality of the degree of c1 we get deg(b1 , c3 ) + deg(b1 , c4 ) ≤ 4. Now by
Observation 5, there must be at least 37 − 16 − 4 − 8 = 9 edges containing one vertex from {b3 , b4 , c3 , c4 } and
one from {b2 , c2 }. This implies that the degree of b2 or c2 is strictly larger than that of c1 , a contradiction.
So we have deg(b1 , c3 ) ≤ 1 and by a similar argument we get deg(b1 , c4 ) ≤ 1.
Now we show that both deg(b2 , c3 ), deg(b2 , c4 ) ≤ 1. To see this first assume that either deg(b3 , c1 ) or
deg(b4 , c1 ) is equal to 4 (say deg(b3 , c1 ) = 4), then we must have that deg(b3 , c2 ) = 4 too. This is so because if
deg(b3 , c2 ) < 4 = x, then we can exchange b1 with b3 to get a smaller value of x contradicting the minimality
of x. If deg(b3 , c2 ) = 4, then by Observation 6 we must have deg(b2 , c3 ) ≤ 1 and deg(b2 , c4 ) ≤ 1. On the
other hand if both deg(b3 , c1 ) and deg(b4 , c1 ) are at most 3 (so deg(b3 , c1 ) + deg(b4 , c1 ) ≤ 6), then again there
must be at least 37 − 16 − 4 − 8 = 9 edges containing some pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c2 } or {b2 } × {c3 , c4 }. This
12
means at least one of these pairs must be of degree at least 3. Say deg(b3 , c2 ) ≥ 3, but then by Observation
6 we have deg(b2 , c3 ), deg(b2 , c4 ) ≤ 1 and we are done. In the case when some pair in {b2 } × {c3 , c4 } has
degree at least 3, say deg(b2 , c3 ) ≥ 3, then by Observation 6 both deg(b3 , c2 ) and deg(b4 , c2 ) are at most 1,
hence deg(b2 , c3 ) + deg(b2 , c4 ) ≥ 7 and we get that degree of b2 is larger than degree of c1 , a contradiction.
So we have that deg(b1 , c3 ), deg(b1 , c4 ), deg(b2 , c3 ) and deg(b2 , c4 ) ≤ 1. This together with Observation 5
implies that the number of edges containing some pair in {b1 , b2 , b3 , b4 } × {c1 , c2 } is at least 37 − 4 − 4 = 29.
Therefore, the 2 × 4 × 4 3-graph H 0 (Q1 , Q2 , {c1 , c2 }) has at least 37 − 4 − 4 = 29 edges and by Observation
8, we get an H432 .
Subcase 3.2 x = 3.
In this case since deg(b2 , c1 ) ≤ 4, we have that the number of edges in {b1 , b2 } × {c1 , c2 } is at most 15.
Again, first we show that both deg(b1 , c3 ), deg(b1 , c4 ) ≤ 1. Assume that deg(b1 , c3 ) ≥ 2, by Observation 6
both deg(b3 , c1 ) and deg(b4 , c1 ) can be at most 2. Hence, we get that deg(b1 , c3 ) + deg(b1 , c4 ) ≤ 5, because
otherwise degree of b1 is greater than that of c1 , contradicting the maximality of degree of c1 . Now by
Observation 5, there must be at least 37 − 15 − 4 − 9 = 9 edges containing one vertex from {b3 , b4 , c3 , c4 }
and one from {b2 , c2 }. By Observation 6 this implies that one of b2 and c2 is part of at most 2 out of these
9 edges while the other is part of 7 edges, which makes its degree larger than that of c1 , a contradiction. So
we have deg(b1 , c3 ) ≤ 1 and deg(b1 , c4 ) ≤ 1.
As above, next we show that both deg(b2 , c3 ), deg(b2 , c4 ) ≤ 1. To see this first assume that either
deg(b3 , c1 ) or deg(b4 , c1 ) is equal to 4, (say deg(b3 , c1 ) = 4), then by the minimality of x we must have that
deg(b3 , c2 ) ≥ 3 too. But if deg(b3 , c2 ) ≥ 3, then by Observation 6 we must have deg(b2 , c3 ), deg(b2 , c4 ) ≤ 1.
On the other hand if both deg(b3 , c1 ) and deg(b4 , c1 ) are at most 3 (so deg(b3 , c1 )+deg(b4 , c1 ) ≤ 6), then again
there must be at least 37 − 15 − 4 − 8 = 10 edges containing some pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c2 } and {b2 } × {c3 , c4 }.
This means that at least one of these pairs must be of degree at least 3. Say deg(b3 , c2 ) ≥ 3, then by
Observation 6 we have deg(b2 , c3 ), deg(b2 , c4 ) ≤ 1 and we are done. In case say deg(b2 , c3 ) ≥ 3, as above
we have deg(b2 , c3 ) + deg(b2 , c4 ) ≥ 7 and we get that the degree of b2 is greater than the degree of c1 , a
contradiction.
So we have that deg(b1 , c3 ), deg(b1 , c4 ), deg(b2 , c3 ), and deg(b2 , c4 ) ≤ 1. Again we get that the 2 × 4 × 4
3-graph H 0 (Q1 , Q2 , {c1 , c2 }) has at least 37 − 4 − 4 = 29 edges and we are done by Observation 8.
Subcase 3.3 x = 2.
Similarly as in the previous two subcases we get that deg(b1 , c3 ) ≤ 1 and deg(b1 , c4 ) ≤ 1. Next we
show that deg(b2 , c3 ) ≤ 1 and deg(b2 , c4 ) ≤ 1. To see this again first assume that either deg(b3 , c1 ) or
deg(b4 , c1 ) is 4 (say deg(b3 , c1 ) = 4). Then by minimality of x we must have that deg(b3 , c2 ) ≥ 2 too, which
by Observation 6 implies that we must have deg(b2 , c3 ), deg(b2 , c4 ) ≤ 2. This means that if we are not done,
then deg(b3 , c2 ) = deg(b2 , c3 ) = deg(b2 , c4 ) = 2, which in turn implies that deg(b4 , c2 ) = 2. Combining all the
degree information above we get that |E(H)| ≤ 36, a contradiction. On the other hand, if both deg(b3 , c1 ) and
deg(b4 , c1 ) are at most 3 (so deg(b3 , c1 )+deg(b4 , c1 ) ≤ 6), then again there must be at least 37−14−4−8 = 11
edges containing some pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c2 } and {b2 } × {c3 , c4 }. This means that at least one of these pairs
must be of degree at least 3. Say deg(b3 , c2 ) ≥ 3, then by Observation 6 we have deg(b2 , c3 ), deg(b2 , c4 ) ≤ 1
and we are done. In case say deg(b2 , c3 ) ≥ 3, as above we have deg(b2 , c3 ) + deg(b2 , c4 ) ≥ 7 and we get that
the degree of b2 is greater than that of c1 , a contradiction.
Therefore, we get that deg(b1 , c3 ), deg(b1 , c4 ), deg(b2 , c3 ), and deg(b2 , c4 ) ≤ 1. This implies that the
2 × 4 × 4 3-graph H 0 (Q1 , Q2 , {c1 , c2 }) has at least 37 − 4 − 4 = 29 edges and we are done by Observation 8.
Subcase 3.4 x = 1.
13
In this case Observation 7 implies that the number of edges in {b1 , b2 } × {c1 , c2 } is exactly 13 (i.e.
deg(b2 , c1 ) = 4). Using |E(H)| ≥ 37 and Observation 6 we get that every pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } has
degree exactly 1 and for any pair in {b3 , b4 } × {c3 , c4 } and any of (b1 , c1 ) or (b2 , c2 ) their crossing degree
sum is exactly 5 (4 + 1). This together with the maximality of degree of c1 implies that either
deg(b3 , c1 ) = deg(b4 , c1 ) = deg(b2 , c3 ) = deg(b2 , c4 ) = 4 or
deg(b3 , c1 ) = deg(b4 , c1 ) = deg(b3 , c2 ) = deg(b4 , c2 ) = 4.

In the latter case note that we have that H 0 (Q1 , Q2 , {c1 , c2 }) has at least 29 edges and we are done by
Observation 8.
So assume that deg(b3 , c1 ) = deg(b4 , c1 ) = deg(b2 , c3 ) = deg(b2 , c4 ) = 4 and deg(b1 , c1 ) = deg(b2 , c2 ) =
deg(b2 , c1 ) = 4 and every other pair in Q2 × Q3 is of degree exactly 1. This means that b2 and c1 are not
part of any degree 1 pair. Now the neighborhoods of all the degree 1 pairs must be the same vertex in Q1
(say a3 ). Because otherwise we get a perfect matching in H, (using those two vertices in Q1 for two disjoint
degree 1 pairs, and the remaining two vertices of Q1 are matched with two of the degree 4 pairs in Q2 × Q3 ).
But if all of these edges are incident to a3 , then all edges in this graph are incident to at least one vertex in
{a3 , b2 , c1 } and the number of edges is exactly 37, hence H is isomorphic to Hext .
Definition 22. Let A = (A1 , . . . , A4 ), B = (B1 , . . . , B4 ), and C = (C1 , . . . , C4 ) be three disjoint balanced
complete 4-partite 4-graphs of the same size. Let Z be a set of vertices disjoint from V (A) ∪ V (B) ∪ V (C).
We define the link graph of A, B, and C, with respect to Z and a small constant η > 0, to be the 4 × 4 × 4
3-graph, Labc (Z, η), where the vertex set of each color class of Labc (Z, η) corresponds to the color classes in
A, B, and C. While a triplet of vertices (ai , bj , ck ) is an edge in Labc (Z, η) iff d4 (Z, (Ai × Bj × Ck )) ≥ 3η.
When the set Z and parameter η is clear from the context we will refer to Labc (Z, η) as Labc . Furthermore,
if the 4-partite 4-graphs are indexed as Qi , Qj and Qk , we will refer to the corresponding link graph as Lijk .
Definition 23. For 1 ≤ k ≤ 3 given k S balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs Q1 . . . Qk , Qi = (Vi1 , . . . , Vi4 ).
Let Z be a set of vertices disjoint from V (Qi ), we say that we can (η,S k)-extend (Q1 , . . . , Qk ), if we can
build another set of disjoint balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs using V (Qi ) ∪ Z, such that
• the total number of vertices in the new 4-partite 4-graphs is at least (4k + x)|Vi1 |, where the value of x
η
is 2η, 2η, and 12 for k = 1, 2, and 3 respectively,
• the number of vertices used from Z is at most 3η|Vi1 |, 3η|Vi1 |, and η2 |V1i | for k = 1, 2, and 3 respectively,
• the size of a color class in each new 4-partite 4-graph is at least η2 |Vi1 |, η4 log |Vi1 |, and 10η
p
log |Vi1 |,
for k = 1, 2, and 3 respectively.
In what follows we give a procedure to (η, k)-extend (Q1 , . . . , Qk ).
Lemma 24. For 0 < c1 , c2 , η < 1 and m ≥ m0 (c1 , c2 , η), let A = (A1 , A2 , A3 , A4 ) be a balanced complete
4-partite 4-graph in a 4-graph H, with |A1 | = c1 m. Let Z be a set of vertices disjoint from V (A), with
3
|Z| ≥ c2 2m . If d4 (Ai , Z3 ) ≥ 3η for at least two color classes of A, then we can (η, 1)-extend A.

Proof. Without loss of generality, assume that for i = 1 and 2 we have d4 (Ai , Z3 ) ≥ 3η. Clearly, the

hypergraphs H(A1 , Z3 ) and H(A2 , Z3 ) satisfy the conditions of Lemma 8 (with parameter η). Applying

Lemma 8 we find two disjoint balanced complete 4-partite graphs (A11 , Z11 , Z12 , Z13 ) and (A12 , Z21 , Z22 , Z23 ) where
14
A A1 A2 A3 A4
Figure 4: (η, 1)-extension of A. Shaded quadrilaterals represent density, while the dark black quadrilaterals are balanced
complete 4-partite 4-graphs.
A11 and A12 are subsets of A1 and A2 respectively, and Zki , k ∈ {1, 2} and i ∈ {1, 2, 3} are disjoint subsets
of Z. The size of each color class of these new 4-partite graphs is η|A1 |/2 (see Figure 4). We remove the
vertices of these two new 4-partite 4-graphs from their respective sets. Removing these vertices from A1
and A2 creates an imbalance in the remaining part of A (A3 and A4 have more vertices). To restore the
balance, we discard (add to Z) some arbitrary |A11 | = |A12 | vertices each from A3 and A4 . The two new
4-partite graphs use 6η|Ai |/2 vertices from Z. Therefore, after discarding the vertices from A3 and A4 , the
total number of vertices in the two new 4-partite 4-graphs and the remaining part of A, is 4|Ai | + 2η|Ai |.
All the three 4-partite 4-graphs are balanced, hence A is (η, 1)-extended.
Lemma 25. For 0 < c1 , c2 , η < 1 and m ≥ m0 (c1 , c2 , η), let A = (A1 , A2 , A3 , A4 ) and B = (B1 , B2 , B3 , B4 )
be two disjoint balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs in a 4-graph H, with |A1 | = |B1 | = c1 m. Let Z be a set
3
of vertices disjoint from V (A) and V (B), with |Z| ≥ c2 2m . If d4 (Ai , Bj , Z2 ) ≥ 3η for at least nine pairs of

color classes in {A1 , A2 , A3 , A4 } × {B1 , B2 , B3 , B4 }, then we can (η, 2)-extend (A, B).
A A1 A2 A3 A4
B B1 B2 B3 B4
Figure 5: (η, 2)-extension of (A, B). Shaded quadrilaterals represent density, while the dark black quadrilaterals are balanced
15
Proof. It is easy to see that out of the nine pairs of color classes in {A1 , A2 , A3 , A4 } × {B1 , B2 , B3 , B4 }, we
can find three disjoint pairs of color classes (say (A1 , B1 ), (A2, B2 ) and (A3 , B3 )), such that for 1 ≤ i ≤ 3
we have d4 (Ai , Bi , Z2 ) ≥ 3η. The hypergraph H(A1 , B1 , Z2 ) satisfies the conditions of Lemma 9 (with
parameter η). Using Lemma 9, we remove disjoint balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs, such that each of
them has one color class in A1 , one in B1 , and two disjoint color classes in Z. The size of each color class
of these new 4-partite graphs is η4 log |A1 |. Note that the size of a color class in the new 4-partite 4-graphs
is η4 log |A1 | (instead of η2 log |A1 |) and we have d4 (Ai , Bi , Z2 ) ≥ 3η. Therefore, the conditions of Lemma 9

are satisfied until in total we remove at least η|A 1 |/2 vertices each from A1 and B1 . We build such balanced
complete 4-partite 4-graphs from H(A1 , B1 , Z2 ), such that in total we remove η|A1 |/2 vertices each from
A1 and B1 (we assume divisibility). We repeat the same process with (A2 , B2 ) and (A3 , B3 ) (see Figure 5).
In total these new balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs use 3η|A1 | vertices from Z. When we remove the
vertices of these new 4-partite graphs from A and B the remaining parts of A and B are not balanced (A4
and B4 have extra vertices). To restore the balance we remove an arbitrary set of η|A1 |/2 vertices each from
A4 and B4 . The total number of vertices in these new 4-partite 4-graphs and the remaining parts of A and
B is 8|A1 | + 2η|A1 |, hence (A, B) is (η, 2)-extended.
Lemma 26. For 0 < c1 , c2 , η < 1 and m ≥ m0 (c1 , c2 , η), let A, B, and C be three balanced complete 4-
partite 4-graphs in a 4-graph H, such that |A1 | = |B1 | = |C1 | = c1 m. Let Z be a disjoint set of vertices with
3
|Z| ≥ c2 2m . If the link graph Labc has at least 37 edges and Labc is not isomorphic to Hext , then we can
(η, 3)-extend (A, B, C).
Proof. Labc is a 4 × 4 × 4 3-graph with at least 37 edges and is not isomorphic to Hext , for each of the other
cases as in Lemma 21, with the following procedure we (η, 3)-extend (A, B, C).
Case 1: Labc has a perfect matching: Without loss of generality assume that the perfect matching in Labc
corresponds to {(Ai , Bi , Ci ) : 1 ≤ i ≤ 4}, i.e. d4 (Z, (Ai ×Bi ×Ci )) ≥ 3η for 1 ≤ i ≤ 4. Note that by definition
of Labc and the sizes of the color classes, the 4-partite 4-graph H(A1 , B1 , C1 , Z) satisfies the conditions of
Lemma 10 (with parameter η). We find a balanced complete 4-partite 4-graph X1 = (A11 , B11 , C11 , Z 1 ), such
that
Z 1 ⊂ Z, A11 ⊂ A1 , B11 ⊂ B1 and C11 ⊂ C1 and
ηp
|Z 1 | = |A11 | = |B11 | = |C11 | = log |A1 |.
10
Similarly, we find such balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs X2 , X3 , and X4 in H(A2 , B2 , C2 , Z), H(A3 , B3 , C3 , Z),
and H(A4 , B4 , C4 , Z) respectively, that are disjoint from each other (see Figure 6). We remove the vertices in
X1 , X2 , X3 and X4 and make these four new 4-partite 4-graphs. Note thatp we use Lemma 10 withp parameter
η
η and the size of a color class in the removed 4-partite 4-graphs is only 10 log |A1 | (instead of η5 log |A1 |).
This ensures that the conditions of Lemma 10 are satisfied until we use at least η|A1 |/8 vertices from a color
class. In the remaining parts of A, B and C we remove another such set of four disjoint balanced complete
4-partite 4-graphs. We continue this process until we remove η|A1 |/8 vertices from each color class of A, B,
and C (we assume divisibility). The new 4-partite 4-graphs use 4η|A1 |/8 vertices from Z. Therefore, these
new 4-partite 4-graphs together with the remaining parts of A, B, and C have at least (12+η/2)|A1 | vertices,
while all the 4-partite 4-graphs are balanced. Hence, (A, B, C) is (η, 3)-extended.
Case 2: Labc has a subgraph isomorphic to H432 : In this case we show in detail how to (η, 3)-extend such
an (A, B, C), while in the latter cases we will only briefly outline the procedure. First assume that the H432
in Labc is as in Figure 2(a) and let the pairs corresponding to the degree 4, 3, and 2 pairs in this H432
be (B1 , C1 ), (B2 , C2 ), and (B3 , C3 ) respectively. Furthermore, let the color classes corresponding to the
neighbors of degree 3 and degree 2 pairs in H432 be {A2 , A3 , A4 } and {A3 , A4 } respectively.
16
Z A B C
C1
C2
C3
C4
Figure 6: (η, 3)-extension of (A, B, C) when Labc has a perfect matching. Shaded rectangles represent triplets’ density, while
solid thick lines represent balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs.
Using Lemma 10 (with parameter η) we find two disjoint balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs X1 =
(A14 , B31 , C31 , Z 1 ) and X2 = (A23 , B32 , C32 , Z 2 ) in H(A4 , B3 , C3 , Z) and H(A3 , B3 , C3 , Z) respectively. We find
three more disjoint balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs X3 , X4 and X5 where vertices of three color classes
in all of them are from B2 , C2 , and Z while vertices of the fourth color class are from A2 , A3 , and A4
respectively. We build two more disjoint balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs X6 and X7 such that vertices
of three color classes in both of them are from B1 , C1 , and Z while vertices pof the fourth color class are from
η
A1 and A2 respectively. The size of every color class in X1 , . . . , X7 is 10 log |A1 |. We remove the vertices
in X1 , . . . X7 from their color classes to make these seven new 4-partite 4-graphs.
In the remaining parts of A, B, and C we remove another such set of seven disjoint balanced complete
4-partite 4-graphs that are disjoint from the previous ones. Again we continue this process until we remove
η|A1 |/8 vertices each from Bi and Ci , 1 ≤ i ≤ 3. By construction, if the number of vertices used from Bi and
Ci , 1 ≤ i ≤ 3 is t (= η|A1 |/8), then the number of vertices used in A2 , A3 , and A4 is 5t/6, while that in A1
is t/2 (see Figure 7(a)). The new 4-partite 4-graphs use 3t = 3η|A1 |/8 vertices from Z, but the remaining
parts of A, B and C are not balanced (A1 , B4 , and C4 have more vertices). To restore the balance in the
remaining part of A we discard some arbitrary t/3 vertices from the remaining part of A1 . Similarly we
discard some arbitrary t vertices from B4 and C4 to restore the balance in the remaining parts of B and C.
The new 4-partite 4-graphs together with the remaining parts of A, B, and C (after discarding the vertices)
have 4(|A1 | + |B1 | + |C1 |) + 3t − t/3 − 2t = (12 + η/12)|A1 | vertices, while all the 4-partite 4-graphs are
balanced. Hence, (A, B, C) is (η, 3)-extended.
On the other hand if the H432 in Labc is as in Figure 2(b), then let the color classes corresponding to the
neighbors of degree 3 and degree 2 pairs in H432 be {A1 , A2 , A3 } and {A3 , A4 } respectively. In this case we
(η, 3)-extend (A, B, C) as follows.
For the pair (B3 , C3 ) we remove two balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs with the fourth color classes in
A3 and A4 respectively. For the pair (B2 , C2 ) we remove two balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs with the
fourth color classes in A1 and A2 respectively. Since the pair (B1 , C1 ) has degree 4, we remove four balanced
complete 4-partite 4-graphs with the fourth color class pin A1 , A2 , A3 , and A4 respectively. The size of of each
η
color class in all of these new 4-partite graphs is 10 log |A1 |. Similarly as in the previous case we repeat
this process so that we remove t = η|A1 |/8 vertices from each Bi and Ci , 1 ≤ i ≤ 3. By construction we have
17
Z A B 4 C Z A B 4 C
C1 C1
3 3
: 3t : 4t
C2 C2
: 2t 2
: 2t 2
C3 C3
C4 C4
(a) (η, 3)-extension of (A, B, C) when Labc has an H432 as in (b) (η, 3)-extension of (A, B, C) when Labc has an H432 as in
Figure 2(a). Figure 2(b).
Figure 7: Shaded rectangles represent triplets’ density, while solid thick lines represent balanced complete
4-partite 4-graphs.
used 3t/4 vertices in each color class of A (see Figure 7(b)). So the remaining part of A is still balanced. To
restore balance in the remaining parts of B and C, we discard some arbitrary t vertices from each of B4 and
C4 . Again, in total we added 3t vertices from Z, while we discarded 2t vertices form B4 and C4 . Therefore,
the net increase in the number of vertices in the new set of complete 4-partite 4-graphs is t = η|A1 |/8, while
all the 4-partite 4-graphs are balanced.
Case 3: Labc has a subgraph isomorphic to H4221 : Without loss of generality, assume that the pairs
corresponding to the degree 4, 2, 2, and 1 pairs in the H4221 are (B1 , C1 ), (B2 , C2 ), (B3 , C3 ) and (B4 , C4 )
respectively. Furthermore, let the color classes corresponding to the neighbors of degree 1 and the two degree
2 pairs in H4221 be {A4 }, {A3 , A4 } and {A3 , A4 } respectively (as in Figure 3(a)). By Lemma 10 we build bal-
η
p
anced complete 4-partite 4-graphs in H(A4 , B4 , C4 , Z) and H(A3 , B3 , C3 , Z) of size 10 log |A1 |. For the pair
(B2 , C2 ), we make two more balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs in H(A4 , B2 , C2 , Z) and H(A3 , B2 , C2 , Z).
For the degree 4 pair (B1 , C1 ) we remove balanced complete 4-partite 4-graphs in H(A1 , B1 , C1 , Z) and
H(A2 , B1 , C1 , Z) (see Figure 8(a)).
We repeat this process so that we remove t = η|A1 |/24 vertices from each color class of B and C. With
this process we used 3t/2 vertices in A3 and A4 , while t/2 vertices each in A1 and A2 . Furthermore, only
the remaining part of A is not balanced. The balance is restored by discarding t vertices each from the
remaining parts of A1 and A2 which results in the net increase of 2t = η|A1 |/12 vertices in all the balanced
Case 4: Labc has a subgraph isomorphic to H3321 : Assume that the pairs corresponding to the degree 3, 3,
2 and 1 pairs in the H3321 are (B1 , C1 ), (B2 , C2 ), (B3 , C3 ) and (B4 , C4 ) respectively. Let the color classes
corresponding to the neighbors of these pairs in H3321 be {A2 , A3 , A4 }, {A2 , A3 , A4 }, {A3 , A4 } and {A4 }.
As above by Lemma 10 we build three balanced p complete 4-partite graphs in each of H(A4 , B4 , C4 , Z),
η
H(A3 , B3 , C3 , Z), and H(A2 , B2 , C2 , Z) of size 10 log |A1 |. In addition, we build three more balanced
complete 4-partite 4-graphs using (B1 , C1 ) and Z, while the vertices of the fourth color classes are in A2 ,
A3 and A4 respectively. We repeat this process so as to remove t = 3η|A1 |/64 vertices from each color class
of B and C. Clearly the remaining parts of B and C are balanced, while in A we have used 4t/3 vertices
18
Z A B 4 C Z A B 3 C
C1 C1
2 3
: 2t : 3t
C2 C2
:t 2
:t 2
C3 C3
1 1
C4 C4
(a) (η, 3)-extension of (A, B, C) when Labc has an H4221 . (b) (η, 3)-extension of (A, B, C) when Labc has an H3321 .
Figure 8: Shaded rectangles represent triplets density, while solid thick lines represent balanced complete
4-partite 4-graphs.
in each of A2 , A3 and A4 . To restore the balance in remaining part of A, we discard arbitrary 4t/3 vertices
from A1 (see Figure 8(b)). In the process the net increase in the number of vertices in the resultant balanced
4-partite 4-graphs is 8t/3 = η|A1 |/8, hence (A, B, C) is (η, 3)-extended. In the case when in the H3321 the
neighborhoods of (B3 , C3 ) and (B4 , C4 ) are disjoint (as with the dashed edge in Figure 3(b)), we build the
first three complete 4-partite graphs in H(A2 , B4 , C4 , Z), H(A3 , B3 , C3 , Z), and H(A4 , B2 , C2 , Z) and the
remaining process is the same.
4 The Non Extremal Case

Throughout this section we assume that we have a 4-graph H 0 on n0 ∈ 4Z vertices, satisfying (1). Further-
more, we assume that n0 is sufficiently large and that H 0 is α-non-extremal, where
0 < γ = α4 1. (2)
When n0 is large, from (1) and (2), we have
0 0
37 n0 − 1 9n02
0
n −1 √

0 3n /4 1 n
δ1 (H ) ≥ − +1> − > +2 α ,
3 3 64 3 64 2 3
hence H 0 satisfies the conditions of Lemma 16 (the absorbing lemma). We remove from H 0 an absorbing
√
matching MAbs of size at most α2 n0 /4 = γn0 /4. In the remaining hypergraph we find an almost perfect
matching that leaves out a set of at most α4 n0 = γn0 ∈ 4Z vertices. As guaranteed by Lemma 16, the
vertices that are left out from the almost perfect matching can be absorbed into MAbs , therefore, we get a
perfect matching in H 0 . Let H be the remaining hypergraph (after removing V (MAbs )) and assume that it
√
is on n vertices, i.e. n = n0 − |V (MAbs )|. Since |V (MAbs )| ≤ γn0 , for any vertex v ∈ V (H 0 ), there can be
√ 03
at most 2 γn /3 edges containing v and at least one vertex in V (MAbs ). Therefore, in H we have

37 √ n
δ1 (H) ≥ −6 γ . (3)
64 3
19
α
Furthermore, we have that H is 2 -non-extremal.
4.1 The optimal cover

Our goal is to find an almost perfect matching in H (leaving out at most γn < γn0 vertices). We are going
to build a cover F = {Q1 , Q2 , . . .} such that each Qi is a disjoint balanced complete 4-partite 4-graph in
H (we refer to them as 4-partite graphs). We say that such a cover is optimal if it covers at least (1 − γ)n
vertices. We will show that if H is α2 -non-extremal, then we can build an optimal cover. Such an optimal
cover readily gives us an almost perfect matching.
Using the following iterative procedure, we either build an optimal cover or find a subset of vertices, which
shows that H is α2 -extremal. We begin with a cover F0 . Then in each step t ≥ 1, if Ft−1 is not optimal, we
find another cover Ft , such that |V (Ft )| ≥ |V (Ft−1 )| + γ 3 n (for this we use the notation, Ft > Ft−1 ). After
every iteration all 4-partite graphs in the cover will be balanced and of the same p size. If mt−1 is the size of
γ
a color class in each 4-partite graph in Ft−1 , then in Ft we will have mt ≥ 10 log mt−1 . We assume that
n is sufficiently large so that for any iteration t ≤ γ −3 , mt is large enough for Lemma 7 to be applicable.
We repeatedly apply Lemma 7 to find 4-partite graphs, K (4) (m0 ) in H, where m0 = γ(log γn)1/3 until
the remaining part of H contains no copy of K (4) (m0 ). Denote by F0 the set of 4-partite graphs obtained
in this way. Let It = V (H) \ V (Ft ) and assume that Ft is not optimal and we cannot apply Lemma 7 in
H|It , we must have that |It | ≥ γn and
d4 (It ) < γ. (4)
Note that (4) together with the fact that H is α2 -non-extremal implies that |V (F0 )| ≥ n/4. We show that if
after any iteration t, there are many edges with three vertices in It and one vertex in some Qi ∈ Ft , then
we get Ft+1 > Ft . Let Qi = (V1i , V2i , V3i , V4i ) be a 4-partite graph in Ft , we say that a color class, Vpi of Qi ,
(1 ≤ p ≤ 4) is connected to It , if d4 (Vpi , I3t ) ≥ 4γ.

Fact 27. If a 3γ10 -fraction of the 4-partite graphs in Ft have at least 2 color classes connected to It , then we
get Ft+1 > Ft .
Proof. Suppose we have a subcover F 0 = {Q1 , Q2 , . . .} ⊂ Ft , such that each Qi ∈ F 0 has at least 2 color
classes connected to It and |F 0 | = 3γ|Ft |/10. For each Qi ∈ F 0 , since |V1i | = |V2i | = mt ≤ γ(log γn)1/3
and |It | ≥ γn, the conditions of Lemma 24 are satisfied with η = γ and Z = It . We use Lemma 24 to
(γ, 1)-extend each Qi ∈ F 0 . For each Qi ∈ F 0 we add 2γmt vertices. Using the fact that |V (Ft )| ≥ n/4,
we get that the net increase in the size of our cover is γ 2 n/30. For each Qi ∈ F 0 we use at most 3γmt
vertices from It , hence the total number of vertices used from It is at most 3γ 2 n/10. Note that until γ 2 n/3
vertices are used from It , the conditions of Lemma 24 (with η = γ) are satisfied for the remaining 4-partite
graphs in F 0 . We add the newly made 4-partite graphs, the remaining parts of 4-partite graphs in F 0 , and
all the 4-partite graphs in Ft \ F 0 , to Ft+1 . Now, we split each 4-partite graph in Ft+1 into disjoint balanced
complete 4-partite graphs, such that each has a color class of size mt+1 = γmt /2 (we assume divisibility).
Clearly we have |V (Ft+1 )| ≥ |V (Ft )| + γ 2 n/30, hence Ft+1 > Ft .
Similarly, if after an iteration t there are many edges that use two vertices in It and two vertices from
V (Ft ), then we get Ft+1 > Ft . First note that the number of pairs of vertices of any 4-partite graph Qi ∈ Ft
is O(log n)2/3 , so the number of pairs of vertices within the 4-partite graphs in Ft is O(n(log n)2/3 ) = o n2 .
Therefore, the total number of edges, containing two vertices within a Qi ∈ Ft and two vertices in It is o n4 ;
we ignore such edges. Let Qi = (V1i , V2i , V3i , V4i ) and Qj = (V1j , V2j , V3j , V4j ) be a pair of 4-partite graphs
20

in Ft , we say that It is connected to a pair of color classes (Vpi , Vqj ), (1 ≤ p, q ≤ 4), if d4 Vpi , Vqj , I2t ≥
4γ. We say that It is k-sided to a pair (Qi , Qj ) ∈ F2t , if It is connected to k pairs of color classes in

{V1i , V2i , V3i , V4i } × {V1j , V2j , V3j , V4j }.

Fact 28. If It is at least 9-sided to a 2γ-fraction of pairs of 4-partite graphs in F2t , then we get Ft+1 > Ft .

Proof. Let It be at least 9-sided to the pairs of 4-partite graphs in M ⊂ F2t and let |M | ≥ 2γ |F2t | . By

Lemma 11 and Lemma 12 we get a set of disjoint pairs, M 0 ⊂ M , such that for each pair (Qi , Qj ) ∈ M 0 ,
It is at least 9-sided to (Qi , Qj ) and |M 0 | = 2γ|Ft |/3. For each (Qi , Qj ) ∈ M 0 , since mt ≤ γ(log γn)1/3
and |It | ≥ γn, the conditions of Lemma 25 are satisfied with η = γ and Z = It . We use Lemma 25 to
(γ, 2)-extend (Qi , Qj ) and repeat the procedure for every pair in M 0 . For each pair (Qi , Qj ) ∈ M 0 we add
2γmt vertices from It , hence the net increase in the size of our cover is at least γ 2 n/24. The total number
of vertices used from It is at most γ 2 n/2, hence we can apply Lemma 25 with η = γ for all pairs in M 0 .
We add to Ft+1 the newly made 4-partite graphs, the remaining parts of 4-partite graphs in M 0 , and
all 4-partite graphs not in M 0 . Now, we split each 4-partite graph in Ft+1 into disjoint balanced complete
4-partite graphs, such that each has a color class of size mt+1 = γ4 log mt (we assume divisibility). Clearly
we have |V (Ft+1 )| ≥ |V (Ft )| + γ 2 n/24, hence Ft+1 > Ft .
Suppose that after an iteration t, we can not get Ft+1 > Ft using Fact 27 and Fact 28. Then we must
have that, in most of the 4-partite graphs Qi ∈ Ft , at most one color class is connected to It ; this implies
that d4 (V (Qi ), I3t ) ≤ ( 41 + 12γ). Similarly we must have that It is at most 8-sided to most of the pairs of
4-partite graphs (Qi , Qj ) ∈ F2t ; this implies that d4 (V (Qi ), V (Qj ), I2t ) ≤ ( 21 + 32γ). Hence , we get

It |It |

1
e4 V (Ft ), ≤ + 13γ |V (Ft )| and (5)
3 4 3
It |V (Ft )| |It |

V (Ft ) 1
e4 , ≤ + 37γ . (6)
2 2 2 2 2
On the other hand, by the minimum degree condition (3) we have

X 37 √ n
deg4 (v) ≥ |It | −6 γ . (7)
64 3
v∈It
Using (5),(6) and, (4) and considering the number of time each edge is counted, we get
It It

X V (Ft ) V (Ft )
deg4 (v) = e4 It , + 2e4 , + 3e4 V (Ft ), + 4e4 (It )
3 2 2 3
v∈It
|V (Ft )| |It | |It | |It |

V (Ft ) 3
≤ e4 It , + (1 + 74γ) + ( + 39γ)|V (Ft )| + 4γ . (8)
3 2 2 4 3 4
21
Combining (7) and (8), using n = |V (Ft )| + |It | and the fact that γ is a small constant, we get
|V (Ft )| |It | |It | |It |

V (Ft ) 37 √ n 3
e4 (It , ) ≥ ( − 6 γ) |It | − (1 + 74γ) − ( + 39γ)|V (Ft )| − 4γ
3 64 3 2 2 4 3 4
|V (Ft )| + |It | |V (Ft )| |It | |It |

37 √ 3
≥ ( − 7 γ) |It | − − |V (Ft )|
64 3 2 2 4 3
|V (Ft )| + |It | |V (Ft )| |It | 3 1 |It |

37 √
≥ (( − 7 γ) − − |V (Ft )| )|It |
64 3 2 2 4 3 2
|V (Ft )|

37 √
≥ ( − 30 γ) |It |,
64 3
where the last inequality uses the fact that for x > 21 and a, b ∈ Z+ , x a+b
b a a b
− 2 2 − 4 2 ≥ x a3 .

3
For any vertex v ∈ V (H), consider the edges that v makes with 3-sets of vertices within a Qi ∈ Ft . The
number of 3-sets of vertices of any Qi ∈ Ft is O(log n), (as the size of Qi is at most γ log(γn)1/3 ), hence the
total number of 3-sets of vertices within the 4-partite graphs in Ft is O(n log n) = o n3 . Similarly the number
of 3-sets of vertices which use 2 vertices from a Qi and one vertex from some other Qj is O(n2 log n) = o n3 .

Therefore, for any vertex v, we ignore these types of edges and we will only consider the edges that v makes
with 3-sets of vertices (x, y, z), x ∈ V (Qi ), y ∈ V (Qj ), z ∈ V (Qk ), i 6= j 6= k. Note that we still have

V (Ft ) 37 √
d4 It , ≥ − 40 γ . (9)
3 64
For (Qi , Qj , Qk ) ∈ F3t we consider the link graph Lijk (It , 4γ/3) = Lijk . For a constant η > 0, we say

that It is (η, s)-connected to Ft , if there is a subset of triplets of 4-partite graphs, T ⊂ F3t , such that for each

triplet (Qi , Qj , Qk ) ∈ T , the link graph, Lijk has s edges and |T | ≥ η |F3t | . If for each (Qi , Qj , Qk ) ∈ T , Lijk

has at least s edges (resp. at most s edges), we say that It is (η, ≥ s)-connected (resp. (η, ≤ s)-connected)
to Ft . A simple calculation, using (9), implies that if It is (γ 1/3 , ≤ 36)-connected to Ft , then It is also
√
( γ, ≥ 38)-connected to Ft .
√
Suppose that It is ( γ, ≥ 37)-connected to Ft such that for every triplet (Qi , Qj , Qk ) ∈ T , the link
graph Lijk is not isomorphic to Hext . By Lemma 11 and Lemma 13 there exists a set of disjoint triplets of
√
4-partite graphs, T 0 ⊂ T , such that |T 0 | ≥ γ|Ft |/24 and for every triplet (Qi , Qj , Qk ) ∈ T 0 the link graph
Lijk has at least 37 edges and is not isomorphic to Hext . Now, for each (Qi , Qj , Qk ) ∈ T 0 , since Lijk has at
least 37 edges and Lijk 6= Hext , using Lemma 26, with η = γ and Z = It , we (γ, 3)-extend (Qi , Qj , Qk ) to
add γmt /12 vertices to our cover. We (γ, 3)-extend some triplets in T 0 , so that the net increase in the size
of our cover is γ 2 n/12. Note that the number of vertices used from It is at most γ 2 n, hence the conditions
of Lemma 26 are satisfied. Next again, we make all 4-partite graphs of the same size and get Ft+1 > Ft .
On the other hand, if there is no such T , then we must have that It is not (γ 1/3 , ≤ 36)-connected to
Ft , because otherwise, as observed above, we will get such a T . So for most of the triplets of 4-partite
graphs (≥ (1 − 2γ 1/3 )-fraction) in F3t , we have that the link graph of the triplet has exactly 37 edges and

is isomorphic to Hext . Using Lemma 14, we find a set of disjoint triplets of 4-partite graphs, Tg ⊂ F3t ,

such that for each triplet (Qi , Qj , Qk ) ∈ Tg , the link graph Lijk is isomorphic to Hext . Let Fg be the set of
4-partite graphs covered by Tg , clearly |V (Fg )| ≥ (1 − 3γ 1/3 )|V (Ft )|. With relabeling we may assume that
in each triplet (Qi , Qj , Qk ) ∈ Tg , V1i , V1j , and V1k are the color classes corresponding to the vertices of the
link graph Lijk that intersect every edge of Lijk .
22
For every (Qi , Qj , Qk ) ∈ Tg , by definition of Lijk and the sizes of the Qi , Qj , and Qk , the subgraph
H(V1i , V2j , V2k , It ) satisfies the conditions of Lemma 10. Applying Lemma 10 with η = γ, we find a balanced
complete 4-partite graph Xi1 in H(V1i , V2j , V2k , It ). We also find two more disjoint balanced complete 4-partite
graphs, Xi2 and Xi3 in H(V1i , V3j , V3k , It ) and H(V1i , V4j , V4k , It ). Similarly for each of V1j and V1k we find
three disjoint balanced complete 4-partite graphs Xjp and Xkp in H(Vpi , V1j , Vpk , It ) and H(Vpi , Vpj , V1k , It ),
(2 ≤ p ≤ 4), respectively. All of these balanced complete 4-partite graphs are disjoint from each other and
γ √
the size of a color class in each one of them is 10 log mt .
As above we repeat this process (remove other sets of nine such 4-partite graphs) until in total we remove
γ 2 mt /3 vertices from each of V1i , V1j , and V1k , while 2γ 2 mt /9 vertices from each of the other classes in Qi , Qj ,
and Qk . These new 4-partite graphs in total use γ 2 mt vertices from It . But this creates an imbalance among
the color classes of the remaining parts of Qi , Qj , and Qk (V1i , V1j , and V1k have fewer vertices), to restore
the balance we will have to discard γ 2 mt /9 vertices from each color class in Qi , Qj , and Qk except V1i , V1j ,
and V1k . This leaves us with no net gain in the size of the cover. Therefore, we will not discard any vertices
from these color classes at this time and say that these color classes have extra vertices. We proceed in
similar manner for each triplet in Tg . Note that in total the above procedure uses at most γ 2 n/12 vertices
from It , hence we can apply Lemma 10 for all triplets in Tg .
Denote by V1g , V2g , V3g , and V4g the union of the corresponding color classes of remaining parts of 4-partite
graphs in Fg . Clearly |V2g | = |V3g | = |V4g | ≥ 14 ((1 − 3γ 1/3 )|V (Ft )| − 2γ 2 n/9) ≥ (1 − 4γ 1/3 )|V (Ft )|/4. The
last inequality follows from the lower bound on size of V (Ft ) above and (2). We get

3
|V2g ∪ V3g ∪ V4g ∪ It | ≥ − 12γ 1/3 n. (10)
4
For e4 (V2g ∪ V3g ∪ V4g ∪ It ) we only consider those edges that use exactly one vertex from a 4-partite graph
Qi , as the number of edges of other types is o(n4 ). From (2) and the fact that we are not in the extremal
case we get that
√
d4 (V2g ∪ V3g ∪ V4g ∪ It ) ≥ γ. (11)
By Lemma 7 there exist complete 4-partite graphs in H|V2g ∪V3g ∪V4g ∪It covering at least γ 2 n vertices. We
remove some of these 4-partite graphs (possibly with splitting and discarding part of it) and add them to
9
Ft+1 , such that from no color class we remove more than γ 2 mt /10 vertices ( 10 -fraction of the number of
extra vertices in that color class). To see that we get Ft+1 > Ft , suppose we have used γ 2 mt /10 vertices
from k color classes and |V (Ft+1 )| ≤ |V (Ft )| + γ 3 n. Then we have kγ 2 mt /10 ≤ γ 3 n and the total number
of vertices in these k color classes is at most 10γn. Let H1 be the remaining part of H|V2g ∪V3g ∪V4g ∪It , after
√
removing all vertices of these k color classes. We have |V (H1 )| ≥ 43 − 13γ 1/3 n and d4 (H1 ) ≥ γ/2, hence

we can continue applying Lemma 7 to increase the size of our cover.

Adding these new 4-partite graphs to our cover increases the size of our cover by at least γ 3 n vertices.
As we will not need to discard vertices from (V2g ∪ V3g ∪ V4g ) for rebalancing. Instead the extra vertices are
part of these new 4-partite graphs. In the remaining parts of V2g , V3g , and V4g we arbitrarily discard some
extra vertices to restore the balance in the 4-partite graphs.
5 The Extremal Case

Here our hypergraph H is α-extremal, i.e. there is a B ⊂ V (H) such that
• |B| ≥ ( 34 − α)n
23
• d4 (B) < α,
where α is a small constant satisfying (2) and n 1/α. Let A = V (H) \ B, by shifting some vertices
between A and B we can have that |A| = n/4 and |B| = 3n/4 as n ∈ 4Z (we keep the notation A and B).
Since adding at most αn vertices to B introduces at most αn 3n/4 + 100α2 3n/4

3 4 edges in B and when n is
3n/4
17α 3n/4
large αn 3 < 3 4 , we still have
d4 (B) < 8α. (12)
We have
n−1 n−1 |B|

3n/4
δ1 (H) ≥ − +1= − + 1, (13)
3 3 3 3
this together with (12) implies that almost every vertex a ∈ A makes edges with almost all 3-sets of
vertices
in B3 . Therefore, we will basically match every vertex in A with a distinct 3-set of vertices in B3 (disjoint

from all 3-sets matched with other vertices in A) to get the perfect matching. However some vertices may
be atypical, in the sense that they may not have this connectivity structure hence we will first find a small
matching that covers all such atypical vertices. For the remaining typical vertices we will show that they
satisfy the conditions of the König-Hall theorem, and we will match every remaining vertex in A with a
distinct 3-set of the remaining vertices in B.
A vertex a ∈ A is called exceptional, if it does not make edges with almost all 3-sets of vertices in B3 ,

more precisely if
√ |B|

B
deg4 a, < 1− α .
3 3
A vertex a ∈ A is called strongly exceptional, if it makes edges with very few 3-sets in B3 , more precisely if

|B|

B
deg4 a, < α1/3 .
3 3
Similarly a vertex b ∈ B is called exceptional, if it makes edges with many 3-sets of vertices in B, more
precisely if
B \ {b} √ |B|

deg4 b, > α .
3 3
A vertex b ∈ B is called strongly exceptional, if it makes edges with almost all 3-sets of vertices in B, more
precisely if
B \ {b} |B|

1/3
deg4 b, > (1 − α ) .
3 3
Denote the set of exceptional and strongly exceptional vertices in √

A (and B) by XA and √ SA respectively
(similarly XB and SB ). From (13) and (12) we get that |XA | ≤ 30 α|A| and |XB | ≤ 30 α|B| and for the
strongly exceptional sets we get |SA | ≤ 40α|A| and |SB | ≤ 40α|B|. Note that these constants are not the
best possible but are chosen for ease of calculations.
We only show the bounds on |XA | and |SB |; similar computations yield the bounds on |SA | and |XB |.
To see the bound on |XA |, note that by (13), if there is a set of k vertices {a1 , a2 , . . . , ak } in A and a triplet
{x, y, z} of vertices in B such that for 1 ≤ i ≤ k, {ai , x, y, z} ∈
/ E(H), then to make up the minimum degree
of x, there are at least k + 1 − O(|B|2 ) edges in E(B) containing x. Similarly (not necessarily distinct)
24
k + 1 − O(|B|2 ) edges exist in B to make up the minimum degrees of y and z. Together with the fact that
√
every a ∈ XA does not make edges with at least α |B|

3 triplets of vertices in B, this implies that
√ |B|

2
4|E(B)| > |XA | α − O(|B| ) .
3
√
Now if |XA | > 30 α|A|, then we get
√ √ |B| |B|

4|E(B)| > 30 α|A| α − O(|B|2 ) ≥ 39α ,
3 4
where the last inequality uses |A| = |B|/3 and is a contradiction to (12).
B\{b}

To see the bound on |SB |, since by definition for every vertex b ∈ SB we have deg4 b, 3 >
(1 − α1/3 ) |B|

3 , we get
|B|

4|E(B)| > |SB |(1 − α1/3 ) .
3
Now if |SB | > 40α|B|, then we get
|B| |B| |B|

1/3
4|E(B)| > 40α|B|(1 − α ) ≥ 39α|B| > 156α ,
3 3 4
a contradiction to (12).
5.1 Dealing with the strongly exceptional vertices

In the case when SA 6= ∅, wefirst eliminate the vertices in SA . We may assume thatBfor vertex b ∈ B we
any1/3
have deg4 (b, B3 ) < α1/3 |B|
3 . Indeed, if there is a vertex b ∈ B such that deg4 (b, 3 ) ≥ α |B|
3 , then we
exchange b with a vertex a ∈ SA . Note that the vertex b is not strongly exceptional in A and a cannot be
strongly exceptional in the set B. After
the exchanges for any vertex v, that was not strongly exceptional
we still have deg4 (v, B3 ) > α1/3 |B|3 /2, which is sufficient for our purposes; we do not add such vertices
to the strongly exceptional set. We say that the vertices in B are exchangeable with any vertex in SA and
consider the whole set SA ∪ B. By (13) for any vertex v ∈ SA ∪ B we have
SA ∪ B |SA ∪ B| − 1 |B|

deg4 v, ≥ − + 1.
3 3 3
Since |SA | is very small compared to |B|, by Lemma 15 there are |SA | disjoint edges in H|SA ∪B . As vertices
in SA and B are exchangeable we may assume that these edges cover the vertices of SA and remove these
edges from H to eliminate the vertices in SA . Note that this is the only place where we critically use the
minimum degree.
When SB 6= ∅, by definition, for every vertex b ∈ SB , we have deg4 (b, B3 ) ≥ (1 − α1/3 ) |B|

3 . This
together with the bound on |SB | implies that we can greedily find |SB | vertex disjoint edges in H|B each
containing exactly one vertex of SB . We also select |SB | other vertex disjoint edges such that each edge has
two vertices in B \ XB and the other two vertices are in A. We can clearly find such √ edges because by (13)
and the definition of XB , every vertex in B \ XB makes edges with at least (1 − 3 α)-fraction of 3-sets in
B × A2 .
We remove vertices of this partial matching from A and B and denote the remaining sets by A0 and B 0 .
Let |A0 | + |B 0 | = n0 , by the above procedure we have |B 0 | = 3|A0 | = 3n0 /4.
25
5.2 Dealing with the exceptional vertices
Having dealt with the strongly exceptional vertices, the vertices of XA and XB in A0 and B 0 can be eliminated
using the fact that their sizes are much smaller than the crossing degrees of vertices in those sets. For any
0 0
vertex a ∈ XA we have deg4 (a, B3 ) ≥ α1/3 |B3 | /2 (because a ∈ / SA ). For each a ∈ XA we greedily remove
a disjoint edge that contains a and three vertices from B 0 . To see that we can find |XA | such vertex disjoint
edges, suppose that we have covered |XA | − 1 vertices of XA . The total number of neighbor triplets of the
√ 0
next vertex in XA that are removed is at most 100 α |B3 | . So there are triplets of vertices in the remaining
part of B 0 making edges with the next vertex of XA . Similarly for each b ∈ XB we remove an edge that
contains b and one vertex from A0 and the other two vertices are from B 0 distinct from b. Again we can
find such disjoint edges by a simple greedy procedure. Hence we removed a partial matching that covers all
vertices in the strongly exceptional and exceptional sets.
5.3 Dealing with typical vertices

In the leftover sets of A0 and B 0 (denote them by A00 and B 00 ), by construction we have |B 00 | = 3|A00 |. We
will find |A00 | disjoint edges each using one vertex in A00 and three vertices in B 00 . Note that for every vertex
00 00
a ∈ A00 we have deg4 (a, B3 ) ≥ (1 − 2α1/3 ) |B3 | (as a ∈ / XA ). We say that a vertex bi and a pair bj , bk
in B are good for each other if (bi , bj , bk , al ) ∈ E(H) for at least (1 − 40α1/4 )|A00 | vertices al in A00 . We
00
00
have that any vertex bi ∈ B 00 is good for at least (1 − 40α1/4 ) |B2 | pairs of vertices in B 00 (again this is so
because bi ∈ / XB ). We call such a (bi , bj , bk ) a good triplet and denote by T the set of good triplets. By the
00 00
above reasoning |T | ≥ (1 − 40α1/4 ) |B3 | and every vertex in A00 makes edges with at least (1 − 42α1/4 ) |B3 |
triplets in T .
For a ∈ A00 let ta be the number of neighbor triplets of a in T , we have ta ≥ (1 − 82α1/4 )|T |. We
choose at random a subset T 0 of m = 200α1/4 |B 00 | triplets from T . For a vertex a ∈ A00 , let t0a be the
number of neighbor triplets of a in T 0 . The random variable t0a has a hypergeometric distribution and
E(t0a ) = m·t 9m
|T | ≥ 10 . By the Chernoff’s bound (see, e.g., [9])
a
−(m/40)2

1 1
P r(t0a ≤ 7m/8) ≤ P r(t0a ≤ E(t0a ) − m/40) ≤ exp < = .
2E(t0a ) 00
10|B | 30|A00 |
Therefore, by the union bound with probability at least 29/30 every vertex in A00 has at least 7m/8 neighbor
00
triplets in T 0 . Note that a triplet in T intersects with less than 3 |B 2|−1 other triplets in T . The probability

that two triplets {x, y, z} and {x, y 0 , z 0 } are selected in T 0 is |Tm−2

|−2
|T |
/ m . Hence the expected number of
two intersecting triplets in T 0 is at most
00 |T |−2
|T | · 3 |B 2|−1 m |T 0 |
· m−2
|T |
< = .
2 8 8

m
Therefore, by the Markov inequality with probability at least 3/4 the number of intersecting triplets in T 0 is
at most m/2. Clearly there exists a T 0 ⊆ T of size m such that for every vertex a ∈ A00 , t0a ≥ 7m/8 and the
number of intersecting triplets in T 0 is at most m/2. We choose any such T 0 and for any two intersecting
triplets we arbitrarily discard one of them. Let T1 be the set of remaining vertex disjoint triplets, we may
assume that |T1 | = 100α1/4 |B 00 | (possibly after discarding some more triplets from T 0 ).
26
By the above observations, every vertex a ∈ A00 has at least 7m/8 − m/2 = 3m/8 = 3|T1 |/4 neighbor
triplets in T1 and every triplet in T1 has at least 3|A00 |/4 neighbor vertices in A00 (as T1 has only good
triplets). In B 00 \ V (T1 ) still every vertex is good for almost all pairs (as the size of T1 is very small).
We cover vertices in B 00 \ V (T1 ) with disjoint good triplets (i.e. triplets that make edges in H with at
least (1 − 40α1/4 )|A00 | vertices in A00 ). We define an auxiliary 3-graph H1 with V (H1 ) = B 00 \ V (T1 ) and
E(H1 ) is the set of all good triplets. Since the size of T1 is very small, every vertex in B 00 \ V (T1 ) is still good
00 00
for almost all pairs therefore δ1 (H1 ) > (1 − 50α1/5 ) |B2 | > 95 |B2 | . It follows from the proof of Conjecture
2 for the case r = 3 and d = 1 that H1 has a perfect matching (see [10] and [12]). Let the set of triplets in
this perfect matching be T2 .
Now construct an auxiliary bipartite graph G(L, R), such that L = A00 and vertices in R correspond to
the triplets in T1 ∪ T2 . A vertex in al ∈ L is connected to a vertex y ∈ R if the triplet corresponding to y is
a neighbor of al in H. We will show that G(L, R) satisfies the König-Hall criteria. Considering the sizes of
A00 and T1 it is easy to see that for every subset Q ⊂ R, if |Q| ≤ (1 − 40α1/4 )|A00 |, then |N (Q)| ≥ |Q|. When
|Q| > (1 − 40α1/4 )|A00 | (using |B 00 | = 3|A00 |) any such Q must have at least 6|T1 |/10 vertices corresponding
to triplets in T1 , hence |N (Q)| = |L| ≥ |Q|. Therefore, there is a perfect matching of R into L. This perfect
matching in G(L, R) readily gives us a matching in H covering all vertices in A00 and B 00 , which together with
the edges we already removed (covering strongly exceptional and exceptional vertices) is a perfect matching
in H.
Acknowledgement. Research supported in part by LUMS Faculty Startup Grant. Part of the work was
done while the author was at Umm Al-Qura Univeristy, KSA. The author would also like to thank Endre
Szemerédi, Abdul Basit and two anonymous reviewers for many helpful comments.
References
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[4] B. Bollobás, D. Daykin, and P. Erdös, Sets of independent edges of a hypergraph, Quart. J. Math.
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28

Perfect Matching in 4 Uniform Hypergraphs

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Perfect Matching in 4 Uniform Hypergraphs

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Perfect Matchings in 4-uniform hypergraphs

1 Introduction and Notation

denotes the number of edges of H that contain D. For 1 ≤ d ≤ r, let

Note that for r = 4 and d = 1 the above bound yields

then H has a perfect matching.

We have δ1 (H) = n−1 − 3n/4

1.1 Outline of the proof

Figure 1: The extremal example: Every edge intersects the set A.

Hence, by Lemma 7 we get the desired K (r) (l).

0 < c1 , c2 < 1 and m ≥ m0 (c1 , c2 , η). If

is connected to {z1 , z2 } = y ∈ Y if {a, b, z1 , z2 } is an edge of H. Applying Fact 6 on G(X, Y ) we get a

d4 (Z, (A × B × C)) ≥ 2η,

which is a contradiction to the maximality of E(H1 )/V (H1 ).

|A| |A| |A| |B| (1 − c)n (1 − c)n (1 − c)n cn

then H contains a matching of size k.

2. H has a subgraph isomorphic to H3321 .

deg(b3 , c1 ) = deg(b4 , c1 ) = deg(b2 , c3 ) = deg(b2 , c4 ) = 4 or

deg(b3 , c1 ) = deg(b4 , c1 ) = deg(b3 , c2 ) = deg(b4 , c2 ) = 4.

4 The Non Extremal Case

4.1 The optimal cover

{V1i , V2i , V3i , V4i } × {V1j , V2j , V3j , V4j }.

|V (Ft )| |It | |It | |It |

we can continue applying Lemma 7 to increase the size of our cover.

5 The Extremal Case

Denote the set of exceptional and strongly exceptional vertices in √

5.1 Dealing with the strongly exceptional vertices

5.3 Dealing with typical vertices

that two triplets {x, y, z} and {x, y 0 , z 0 } are selected in T 0 is |Tm−2

[3] B. Bollobás, Extremal graph theory, Academic Press, London (1978).

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