Sharp fractional Helly bounds for common affine flats

Primarily AI-generated textHuman understanding: some partsmath.MG — Metric Geometrymath.CO — Combinatorics

Contributed by Matěj Kripner ↗, Václav Rozhoň ↗, Robert Šámal ↗, Martin Šindelář, Adrián Zámečník

Version 1 / Oct 15, 2026 / CC BY 4.0

Abstract

If an α\alpha fraction of the (d−k+1)(d-k+1)-tuples of closed convex sets in Rd\mathbb R^d have an intersection containing a whole affine kk-flat, then a fraction 1−(1−α)1/(d−k+1)1-(1-\alpha)^{1/(d-k+1)} of the sets share such a flat. This coefficient is best possible, resolving the sharp fractional De Santis question of Ludwigson and Soberón. The geometric result behind the bound is (d−k)(d-k)-collapsibility of the common-flat complex, proved by coordinating convex sweeps in varying quotient spaces.

Provenance statement

This work was produced within the Bolzano project (https://bolzano.app), using AI systems for mathematical research and manuscript preparation. The listed authors contributed to the project and the preparation of this release. The manuscript received only limited human checking.

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Version history

  1. v1Submitted by Václav RozhoňInitial depositCurrentOct 15, 2026