Allowable Interval Sequences and Line Transversals in the Plane

Abstract

Given a family F of n pairwise disjoint compact convex sets in the plane with non-empty interiors, let T(k) denote the property that every subfamily of F of size k has a line transversal, and T the property that the entire family has a line transversal. We illustrate the applicability of allowable interval sequences to problems involving line transversals in the plane by proving two new results and generalizing three old ones. Two of the old results are Klee’s assertion that if F is totally separated then T(3) implies T, and the following variation of Hadwiger’s Transversal Theorem proved by Wenger and (independently) Tverberg: If F is ordered and each four sets of F have some transversal which respects the order on F, then there is a transversal for all of F which respects this order. The third old result (a consequence of an observation made by Kramer) and the first of the new results (which partially settles a 2008 conjecture of Eckhoff) deal with fractional transversals and share the following general form: If F has property T(k) and meets certain other conditions, then there exists a transversal of some m sets in F, with k<m<n. The second new result establishes a link between transversal properties and separation properties of certain families of convex sets.