Andreas Holmsen: Extensions of the (p,q) theorem

Abstract: The (p,q) theorem of Alon and Kleitman is a famous generalization of Helly’s classical theorem which is related to important concepts such as chi-boundedness and weak epsilon nets. It is of considerable interest to understand what types of general set systems admit a (p,q) theorem, and there are several conjectures (by Kalai, Meshulam, and others) surrounding this topic. In this talk I will survey some recent developments in this area, some of which are based on joint work with D.Lee and with X.Goaoc and Z.Patakova.