A Hypergraph Version of a Graph Packing Theorem by Bollobás and Eldridge.

Two n-vertex hypergraphs G and H pack, if there is a bijection f : V (G) -> V (H) such that for every edge e. E(G), the set {f (v) : v is an element of e} is not an edge in H. Extending a theorem by Bollobas and Eldridge on graph packing to hypergraphs, we show that if n >= 10 and n-vertex hypergraphs G and H with vertical bar E(G)vertical bar + vertical bar E(H)vertical bar = 2n - 3 with no edges of size 0, 1, n - 1 and n do not pack, then either (i) one of G and H contains a spanning graph-star, and each vertex of the other is contained in a graph edge, or (ii) one of G and H has n - 1 edges of size n - 2 not containing a given vertex, and for every vertex x of the other hypergraph some edge of size n - 2 does not contain x. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.