Counting thresholds for perfect matchings in hypergraphs

In a $k$-uniform hypergraph, the minimum $d$-degree for some $0\le d\le k-1$ is the minimum number of edges containing any given $d$-set of vertices. An extension of the classical Dirac theorem guarantees that whenever the minimum $d$-degree of a $k$-uniform $n$-vertex hypergraph, $k\mid n$, is larger than a certain Dirac threshold, it contains at least one perfect matching. Moreover, it has been known for some time, due to Kwan, Safavi, and Wang, that for $d\ge k\mathrm{/}2$ such hypergraphs contain not only one, but ``many’’ perfect matchings, that is, at least as many as are expected in a random hypergraph with the same edge density. However, it has also been known that such a result could not be hoped for in general, as it already fails for $(d,k)=(1,3)$. In this paper we introduce new notions of the \emph{counting thresholds} and \emph{approximate counting thresholds}, above which a hypergraph is guaranteed to have at least this many perfect matchings. We show that these thresholds are well-defined and nontrivial for all $d,k,n$, that they are asymptotically related, and finally, we derive improved upper bounds by reducing to cases with smaller $d$ and $k$.