Maximum packings of the λ-fold complete 3-uniform hypergraph with loose 3-cycles

Abstract

It is known that the 3-uniform loose 3-cycle decomposes the complete 3-uniform hypergraph of order \(v\) if and only if \(v \equiv 0, 1,\text{ or }2 (\operatorname{mod} 9)\). For all positive integers \(\lambda\) and \(v\), we find a maximum packing with loose 3-cycles of the \(\lambda\)-fold complete 3-uniform hypergraph of order \(v\). We show that, if \(v \geq 6\), such a packing has a leave of two or fewer edges.