On stability of rainbow matchings

Abstract: We show that for any integer $k\ge 1$ there exists an integer $t_0(k)$ such that for integers $t, k_1, \ldots, k_{t+1}, n$ with $t>t_0(k)$, $\max{k_1, \ldots, k_{t+1}}\le k$, and $n > 2k(t+1)$, the following holds: If $F_i \subseteq {[n]\choose k_i}$ and $|F_i|> {n\choose k_i}-{n-t\choose k_i} - {n-t-k \choose k_i-1} + 1$ for all $i \in [t+1]$, then either ${F_1,\ldots, F_{t+1}}$ admits a rainbow matching of size $t+1$ or there exists $W\in {[n]\choose t}$ such that $W$ is a vertex cover of $F_i$ for all $i\in [t+1]$. This may be viewed as a rainbow non-uniform extension of the classical Hilton-Milner theorem. We also show that the same holds for every $t$ and $n > 2k^3t$, generalizing a recent stability result of Frankl and Kupavskii on matchings to rainbow matchings.