Frankl's binomial norm conjecture for intersecting-union families

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Let [n]={1,…,n}[n]=\{1,\ldots,n\}, let 2[n]2^{[n]} denote its power set, and let an IU-family be a family F⊆2[n]\mathcal F\subseteq 2^{[n]} in which any two members intersect and no two members cover [n][n]. Define its binomial norm by

∥F∥n=∑F∈F(n∣F∣)−1.\lVert\mathcal F\rVert_n=\sum_{F\in\mathcal F}\binom{n}{|F|}^{-1}.

Frankl's conjecture. For every IU-family F⊆2[n]\mathcal F\subseteq 2^{[n]},

∥F∥n≤n+16.\lVert\mathcal F\rVert_n\leq \frac{n+1}{6}.

Frankl's circle-method argument gives the weaker bound ∥F∥n≤n/4\lVert\mathcal F\rVert_n\leq n/4; the conjectured sharp constant remains unresolved.

References

Primary source

Yongjiang Wu and Lihua Feng, “The binomial norm of intersecting-union families”, arXiv:2607.07564 (2026).

Additional references

5 papers in this index state this conjecture (2016–2026). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:2508.14334, arXiv:2409.19344, arXiv:2106.05355, arXiv:1603.01215.

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