My question is: is there a standard name for a structure like the following?


For positive integers $n$, $k < n$ define a "$k$-set-free test for $n$" as a set $C$ of subsets of the integers $\{0, \dots, n-1\}$ such that: for every $i \in \{0, \dots, n-1\}$ and every $S \subset \{0, \dots, n-1\} \setminus \{i\}$ with $|S| \le k$ there exists $T \in C$ such that $i \in T$ and $S \cap T = \emptyset$. 


Is this a standard combinatorial structure, or a simple transform of a standard combinatorial structure? Does anybody have a convenient reference to this sort of problem?


**Follow up notes and questions.**


Of interest is: bounding $|C|$.


Our application is: we have an unknown set $B \subset \{0, \cdots, n-1\}$ with $|B| \le k$ of "bad" integers and a test procedure that says a set $T$ is spoiled iff $T \cap B \neq \emptyset$. Find a small set of test-sets to identify $B$ using the test procedure.


Trivially the set $C = \{ \{ i \} | i \in \{0, \dots, n-1\} \}$ is an $n-1$-set-free test for $n$ of size $n$. However, it is easy to show for small $k$ there are $C$ with $|C|$ small (for example $|C| = 2 k \lceil 1 + (k+1) \log\_2(n)\rceil $ will do, [link](http://www.win-vector.com/blog/2020/04/imputing-out-of-mixtures-or-un-stirring-spicy-soup/)).


The problem is a standard error-correcting coding problem if test was working over a field (i.e. counting intersection sizes instead of checking non-emptiness).


Is there an $O(k \log(n))$ sized solution? Or can one establish a lower bound that is larger than that?



What is a reference for this sort of test set system that avoids all sets of size $\le k$?
This is an instance of the [set cover problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_cover_problem). I used integer linear programming to obtain the minimum $|C|$ for $1\le k < n \le 12$. Do any of these results surprise you?


\begin{matrix}
n\backslash k &1 &2 &3 &4 &5 &6 &7 &8 &9 &10 &11 \\ 
\hline
2 &2 \\ 
3 &3 &3 \\ 
4 &4 &4 &4 \\ 
5 &4 &5 &5 &5 \\ 
6 &4 &6 &6 &6 &6 \\ 
7 &5 &7 &7 &7 &7 &7 \\ 
8 &5 &8 &8 &8 &8 &8 &8 \\ 
9 &5 &9 &9 &9 &9 &9 &9 &9 \\ 
10 &5 &9 &10 &10 &10 &10 &10 &10 &10 \\
11 &6 &9 &11 &11 &11 &11 &11 &11 &11 &11 \\ 
12 &6 &9 &12 &12 &12 &12 &12 &12 &12 &12 &12 \\ 
\end{matrix}


Also, this type of problem is called [group testing](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_testing).


