On the largest degrees in intersecting hypergraphs

Abstract: Let $\binom{[n]}{k}$ denote the collection of all $k$-subsets of the standard $n$-set $[n]={1,2,\ldots,n}$. Let $n>2k$ and let $\mathcal{F}\subset \binom{[n]}{k}$ be an {\it intersecting} $k$-graph, i.e., $F\cap F'\neq \emptyset$ for all $F,F'\in \mathcal{F}$. The number of edges $F\in \mathcal{F}$ containing $x\in [n]$ is called the {\it degree} of $x$. Assume that $d_1\geq d_2\geq \ldots\geq d_n$ are the degrees of $\mathcal{F}$ in decreasing order. An important result of Huang and Zhao states that for $n>2k$ the minimum degree $d_n$ is at most $\binom{n-2}{k-2}$. For $n\geq 6k-9$ we strengthen this result by showing $d_{2k+1}\leq \binom{n-2}{k-2}$. As to the second and third largest degrees we prove the best possible bound $d_3\leq d_2\leq \binom{n-2}{k-2}+\binom{n-3}{k-2}$ for $n>2k$. Several more best possible results of a similar nature are established.