For a fixed infinite graph $H$, we study the largest density of a monochromatic subgraph isomorphic to $H$ that can be found in every two-coloring of the edges of $K_{\mathbb{N}}$. This is called the Ramsey upper density of $H$, and was introduced by Erdős and Galvin. Recently, the Ramsey upper density of the infinite path was determined. Here, we find the value of this density for all locally finite graphs $H$ up to a factor of 2, answering a question of DeBiasio and McKenney.
We also find the exact density for a wide class of bipartite graphs, including all locally finite forests. Our approach relates this problem to the solution of an optimization problem for continuous functions. We show that, under certain conditions, the density depends only on the chromatic number of $H$, the number of components of $H$, and the expansion ratio $|N(I)|/|I|$ of the independent sets of $H$.
We prove a new upper bound for diagonal two-colour Ramsey numbers, showing that there exists a constant $C$ such that \[r(k+1, k+1) \leq k^{- C \frac{\log k}{\log \log k}} \binom{2k}{k}.\]
A fan $F_n$ is a graph consisting of $n$ triangles, all having precisely one common vertex. Currently, the best known bounds for the Ramsey number $R(F_n)$ are $9n/2-5 \leq R(F_n) \leq 11n/2+6$, obtained by Chen, Yu and Zhao. We improve the upper bound to $31n/6+O(1)$.
Let $r_k(C_{2m+1})$ be the $k$-color Ramsey number of an odd cycle $C_{2m+1}$ of length $2m+1$. It is shown that for each fixed $m\ge2$, \[r_k(C_{2m+1})<c^{k}\sqrt{k!}\] for all sufficiently large $k$, where $c=c(m)>0$ is a constant. This improves an old result by Bondy and Erdős (Ramsey numbers for cycles in graphs, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 14 (1973) 46-54).
For graphs $F$, $G$, and $H$, we write $F \to (G,H)$ if every red-blue coloring of the edges of $F$ produces a red copy of $G$ or a blue copy of $H$. The graph $F$ is said to be $(G,H)$-minimal if it is subgraph-minimal with respect to this property. The characterization problem for Ramsey-minimal graphs is classically done for finite graphs. In 2021, Barrett and the second author generalized this problem to infinite graphs. They asked which pairs $(G,H)$ admit a Ramsey-minimal graph and which ones do not. We show that any pair of star forests such that at least one of them involves an infinit…
We consider following geometric Ramsey problem: find the least dimension $n$ such that for any 2-coloring of edges of complete graph on the points $\{\pm 1\}^n$ there exists 4-vertex coplanar monochromatic clique. Problem was first analyzed by Graham and Rothschild and they gave an upper bound: $n\le F(F(F(F(F(F(F(12)))))))$, where $F(m) = 2\uparrow^m3$. In 2014 Lavrov, Lee and Mackey greatly improved this result by giving upper bound $n< 2\uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 6 < F(5)$. In this paper we revisit their estimates and reduce upper bound to $n< 2\uparrow\uparrow\uparrow 5$
Since 2002, the best known upper bound on the Ramsey numbers R n (3) = R(3,. .. , 3) is R n (3) $\le$ n!(e -- 1/6) + 1 for all n $\ge$ 4. It is based on the current estimate R 4 (3) $\le$ 62. We show here how any closing-in on R 4 (3) yields an improved upper bound on R n (3) for all n $\ge$ 4. For instance, with our present adaptive bound, the conjectured value R 4 (3) = 51 implies R n (3) $\le$ n!(e -- 5/8) + 1 for all n $\ge$ 4.
The two-colour Ramsey number $R(m,n)$ is the least natural number $p$ such that any graph of order $p$ must contain either a clique of size $m$ or an independent set of size $n$. We exhibit a method for computing upper bounds for $R(m,n)$ recursively, using known upper bounds of $R(\cdot,\cdot)$ with lower values for at least one of the arguments. We also give an example of how this method could be used to improve several of the best known bounds that are available in the literature (which however soon will be obsolete due to a forthcoming work).
A $k$-ordering of a graph $G$ assigns distinct order-labels from the set $\{1,\ldots,|G|\}$ to $k$ vertices in $G$. Given a $k$-ordering $H$, the ordered Ramsey number $R_<(H)$ is the minimum $n$ such that every edge-2-coloring of the complete graph on the vertex set $\{1, \ldots, n\}$ contains a copy of $H$, the $i$th smallest vertex of which either has order-label $i$ in $H$ or no order-label in $H$. This paper conducts the first systematic study of ordered Ramsey numbers for $1$-orderings of small graphs. We provide upper bounds for $R_<(H)$ for each connected $1$-ordering $H$ on $4$ vertic…
The restricted $(m,n;N)$-online Ramsey game is a game played between two players, Builder and Painter. The game starts with $N$ isolated vertices. Each turn Builder picks an edge to build and Painter chooses whether that edge is red or blue, and Builder aims to create a red $K_m$ or blue $K_n$ in as few turns as possible. The restricted online Ramsey number $\tilde{r}(m,n;N)$ is the minimum number of turns that Builder needs to guarantee her win in the restricted $(m,n;N)$-online Ramsey game. We show that if $N=r(n,n)$, \[ \tilde{r}(n,n;N)\le \binom{N}{2} - Ω(N\log N), \] motivated by a questi…
The study of upper density problems on Ramsey theory was initiated by Erdős and Galvin in 1993. In this paper we are concerned with the following problem: given a fixed finite graph $F$, what is the largest value of $λ$ such that every 2-edge-coloring of the complete graph on $\mathbb{N}$ contains a monochromatic infinite $F$-factor whose vertex set has upper density at least $λ$? Here we prove a new lower bound for this problem. For some choices of $F$, including cliques and odd cycles, this new bound is sharp, as it matches an older upper bound. For the particular case where $F$ is a triangl…
A complete partition theory is presented for omega-located words (and omega-words), namely for located words over an infinite alphabet dominated by a fixed increasing sequence. This theory strengthens in an essential way the classical Carlson, Furstenberg-Katznelson, and Bergelson-Blass-Hindman partition theory for words over a finite alphabet. Consequences of this theory are strong simultaneous extensions of the classical Hindman, Milliken-Taylor partition theorem, and of a van der Waerden theorem for general semigroups, extending results of Hindman-Strauss and Beiglbock.
For a positive integer $r$, let $G(r)$ be the smallest $N$ such that, whenever the edges of the Cartesian product $K_N \times K_N$ are $r$-coloured, then there is a rectangle in which both pairs of opposite edges receive the same colour. In this paper, we improve the upper bounds on $G(r)$ by proving $G(r) \leq \Big(1 - \frac{1}{128}r^{-2}\Big) r^{\binom{r+1}{2}}$, for $r$ large enough. Unlike the previous improvements, which were based on bounds for the size of set systems with restricted intersection sizes, our proof is a form of a quasirandomness argument.
In this paper we consider big Ramsey degrees of finite chains in countable ordinals. We prove that a countable ordinal has finite big Ramsey degrees if and only if it is smaller than $ω^ω$. Big Ramsey degrees of finite chains in all other countable ordinals are infinite.
In this paper, we obtain upper bounds for the geometric Ramsey numbers of trees. We prove that $R_c(T_n,H_m)=(n-1)(m-1)+1$ if $T_n$ is a caterpillar and $H_m$ is a Hamiltonian outerplanar graph on $m$ vertices. Moreover, if $T_n$ has at most two non-leaf vertices, then $R_g(T_n,H_m)=(n-1)(m-1)+1$. We also prove that $R_c(T_n,H_m)=O(n^2m)$ and $R_g(T_n,H_m)=O(n^3m^2)$ if $T_n$ is an arbitrary tree on $n$ vertices and $H_m$ is an outerplanar triangulation with pathwidth 2. %Further, we prove a uniform polynomial upper bound for the geometric Ramsey numbers of caterpillars and we also give an upp…
The degree anti-Ramsey number $AR_d(H)$ of a graph $H$ is the smallest integer $k$ for which there exists a graph $G$ with maximum degree at most $k$ such that any proper edge colouring of $G$ yields a rainbow copy of $H$. In this paper we prove a general upper bound on degree anti-Ramsey numbers, determine the precise value of the degree anti-Ramsey number of any forest, and prove an upper bound on the degree anti-Ramsey numbers of cycles of any length which is best possible up to a multiplicative factor of $2$. Our proofs involve a variety of tools, including a classical result of Bollobás c…
This article discusses some recent trends in Ramsey theory on infinite structures. Trees and their Ramsey theory have been vital to these investigations. The main ideas behind the author's recent method of trees with coding nodes are presented, showing how they can be useful both for coding structures with forbidden configurations as well as those with none. Using forcing as a tool for finite searches has allowed the development of Ramsey theory on such trees, leading to solutions for finite big Ramsey degrees of Henson graphs as well as infinite dimensional Ramsey theory of copies of the Rado…
We prove new upper bounds on the multicolour Ramsey numbers of paths and even cycles. It is well known that $(k-1)n+o(n)\leq R_k(P_n)\leq R_k(C_n)\leq kn+o(n)$. The upper bound was recently improved by Sárközy who showed that $R_k(C_n)\leq\left(k-\frac{k}{16k^3+1}\right)n+o(n)$. Here we show $R_k(C_n) \leq (k-\frac14)n +o(n)$, obtaining the first improvement to the coefficient of the linear term by an absolute constant.
Given two graphs $G$ and $H$, we investigate for which functions $p=p(n)$ the random graph $G_{n,p}$ (the binomial random graph on $n$ vertices with edge probability $p$) satisfies with probability $1-o(1)$ that every red-blue-coloring of its edges contains a red copy of $G$ or a blue copy of $H$. We prove a general upper bound on the threshold for this property under the assumption that the denser of the two graphs satisfies a certain balancedness condition. Our result partially confirms a conjecture by the first author and Kreuter, and together with earlier lower bound results establishes th…
Ramsey theory for words over a finite alphabet was unified in the work of Carlson and Furstenberg-Katznelson. Carlson, in the same work, outlined a method to extend the theory for words over an infinite alphabet, but subject to a fixed dominating principle, proving in particular an Ellentuck version, and a corresponding Ramsey theorem for k=1. In the present work we develop in a systematic way a Ramsey theory for words (in fact for ω-Z*-located words) over a doubly infinite alphabet extending Carlson's approach (to countable ordinals and Schreier-type families), and we apply this theory, explo…
We consider the strong Ramsey-type game $\mathcal{R}^{(k)}(\mathcal{H}, \aleph_0)$, played on the edge set of the infinite complete $k$-uniform hypergraph $K^k_{\mathbb{N}}$. Two players, called FP (the first player) and SP (the second player), take turns claiming edges of $K^k_{\mathbb{N}}$ with the goal of building a copy of some finite predetermined $k$-uniform hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$. The first player to build a copy of $\mathcal{H}$ wins. If no player has a strategy to ensure his win in finitely many moves, then the game is declared a draw. In this paper, we construct a $5$-uniform hyper…
We improve the upper bound for diagonal Ramsey numbers to \[R(k+1,k+1)\le\exp(-c(\log k)^2)\binom{2k}{k}\] for $k\ge 3$. To do so, we build on a quasirandomness and induction framework for Ramsey numbers introduced by Thomason and extended by Conlon, demonstrating optimal "effective quasirandomness" results about convergence of graphs. This optimality represents a natural barrier to improvement.
In this paper we introduce a new topological Ramsey space whose elements are infinite ordered polyhedra. Then, we show as an application that the set of finite polyhedra satisfies two types of Ramsey property: one, when viewed as a category over $\mathbb N$; the other, when considered as a class of finite structures. The (ordered) random polyhedron is the Fraisse limit of the class of finite ordered polyhedra; we prove that its group of automorphisms is extremely amenable. Finally, we present a countably infinite family of topological Ramsey subspaces; each one determines a class of finite ord…
This list presents problems in the Reverse Mathematics of infinitary Ramsey theory which I find interesting but do not personally have the techniques to solve. The intent is to enlist the help of those working in Reverse Mathematics to take on such problems, and the myriad of related questions one can infer from them. A short bit of background and starting references are provided.
For $s \ge 4$, the 3-uniform tight cycle $C^3_s$ has vertex set corresponding to $s$ distinct points on a circle and edge set given by the $s$ cyclic intervals of three consecutive points. For fixed $s \ge 4$ and $s \not\equiv 0$ (mod 3) we prove that there are positive constants $a$ and $b$ with $$2^{at}<r(C^3_s, K^3_t)<2^{bt^2\log t}.$$ The lower bound is obtained via a probabilistic construction. The upper bound for $s>5$ is proved by using supersaturation and the known upper bound for $r(K_4^{3}, K_t^3)$, while for $s=5$ it follows from a new upper bound for $r(K_5^{3-}, K_t^3)$ that we de…
We say $G\to (\mathcal{C}, P_n)$ if $G-E(F)$ contains an $n$-vertex path $P_n$ for any spanning forest $F\subset G$. The size Ramsey number $\hat{R}(\mathcal{C}, P_n)$ is the smallest integer $m$ such that there exists a graph $G$ with $m$ edges for which $G\to (\mathcal{C}, P_n)$. Dudek, Khoeini and Prałat proved that for sufficiently large $n$, $2.0036n \le \hat{R}(\mathcal{C}, P_n)\le 31n$. In this note, we improve both the lower and upper bounds to $2.066n\le \hat{R}(\mathcal{C}, P_n)\le 5.25n+O(1).$ Our construction for the upper bound is completely different than the one considered by Du…
We study Ramsey's theorem for pairs and two colours in the context of the theory of $α$-large sets introduced by Ketonen and Solovay. We prove that any $2$-colouring of pairs from an $ω^{300n}$-large set admits an $ω^n$-large homogeneous set. We explain how a formalized version of this bound gives a more direct proof, and a strengthening, of the recent result of Patey and Yokoyama [Adv. Math. 330 (2018), 1034--1070] stating that Ramsey's theorem for pairs and two colours is $\forallΣ^0_2$-conservative over the axiomatic theory $\mathsf{RCA}_0$ (recursive comprehension).
The anti-Ramsey number $Ar(G,H)$ is the maximum number of colors in an edge-coloring of $G$ with no rainbow copy of $H$. In this paper, we determine the exact anti-Ramsey number in the generalized Petersen graph $P_{n,k}$ for cycles $C_d$, where $1\leq k\leq \lfloor \frac{n-1}{2} \rfloor$ and $5\le d \le 6$. We also give an algorithm to obtain the upper bound or lower bound of anti-Ramsey number.
We say that $G$ is a $(3, 3)$-Ramsey graph if every $2$-coloring of the edges of $G$ forces a monochromatic triangle. The $(3, 3)$-Ramsey graph $G$ is minimal if $G$ does not contain a proper $(3, 3)$-Ramsey subgraph. In this work we find all minimal $(3, 3)$-Ramsey graphs with up to 13 vertices with the help of a computer, and we obtain some new results for these graphs. We also obtain new upper bounds on the independence number and new lower bounds on the minimum degree of arbitrary $(3, 3)$-Ramsey graphs.
For fixed graphs $F_1,\dotsc,F_r$, we prove an upper bound on the threshold function for the property that $G(n,p) \to (F_1,\dotsc,F_r)$. This establishes the $1$-statement of a conjecture of Kohayakawa and Kreuter.
Given a graph $G$ and a positive integer $k$, define the \emph{Gallai-Ramsey number} to be the minimum number of vertices $n$ such that any $k$-edge coloring of $K_n$ contains either a rainbow (all different colored) triangle or a monochromatic copy of $G$. In this paper, we consider two classes of unicyclic graphs, the star with an extra edge and the path with a triangle at one end. We provide the $2$-color Ramsey numbers for these two classes of graphs and use these to obtain general upper and lower bounds on the Gallai-Ramsey numbers.
A $(p,q)$-coloring of a graph $G$ is an edge-coloring of $G$ which assigns at least $q$ colors to each $p$-clique. The problem of determining the minimum number of colors, $f(n,p,q)$, needed to give a $(p,q)$-coloring of the complete graph $K_n$ is a natural generalization of the well-known problem of identifying the diagonal Ramsey numbers $r_k(p)$. The best-known general upper bound on $f(n,p,q)$ was given by Erdős and Gyárfás in 1997 using a probabilistic argument. Since then, improved bounds in the cases where $p=q$ have been obtained only for $p\in\{4,5\}$, each of which was proved by giv…
We show that the infinite-dimensional versions of Gowers' $\mathrm{FIN}_k$ and $\mathrm{FIN}_{\pm k}$ theorems can be parametrized by an infinite sequence of perfect subsets of $2^ω$. To do so, we use ultra-Ramsey theory to obtain exact and approximate versions of a result which combines elements from both Gowers' theorems and the Hales-Jewett theorem. As a consequence, we obtain a parametrized version of Gowers' $c_0$ theorem.
A Gallai coloring of a complete graph is an edge-coloring such that no triangle has all its edges colored differently. A Gallai $k$-coloring is a Gallai coloring that uses $k$ colors. Given an integer $k\ge1$ and a graph $H$, the Gallai-Ramsey number $GR_k(H)$ is the least positive integer $n$ such that every Gallai $k$-coloring of the complete graph $K_n$ contains a monochromatic copy of $H$. Gyárfás, Sárközy, Sebő and Selkow proved in 2010 that $GR_k (H) $ is exponential in $k$ if $H$ is not bipartite, linear in $k$ if $H$ is bipartite but not a star, and constant (does not depend on $k$) wh…
Given a graph $G$ and a positive integer $k$, define the \emph{Gallai-Ramsey number} to be the minimum number of vertices $n$ such that any $k$-edge coloring of $K_n$ contains either a rainbow (all different colored) triangle or a monochromatic copy of $G$. In this paper, we obtain general upper and lower bounds on the Gallai-Ramsey numbers for the graph $G = S_t^{r}$ obtained from a star of order $t$ by adding $r$ extra independent edges between leaves of the star so there are $r$ triangles and $t - 2r - 1$ pendent edges in $S_t^{r}$. We also prove some sharp results when $t = 2$.
We prove an infinite Ramsey theorem for noncommutative graphs realized as unital self-adjoint subspaces of linear operators acting on an infinite dimensional Hilbert space. Specifically, we prove that if V is such a subspace, then provided there is no obvious obstruction, there is an infinite rank projection P with the property that the compression PVP is either maximal or minimal in a certain natural sense.
We study a generalisation of the bipartite Ramsey numbers to blowups of graphs. For a graph $G$, denote the $t$-blowup of $G$ by $G[t]$. We say that $G$ is $r$-Ramsey for $H$, and write $G \stackrel{r}{\rightarrow} H$, if every $r$-colouring of the edges of $G$ has a monochromatic copy of $H$. We show that if $G \stackrel{r}{\rightarrow} H$, then for all $t$, there exists $n$ such that $G[n] \stackrel{r}{\rightarrow} H[t]$. In fact, we provide exponential lower and upper bounds for the minimum $n$ with $G[n] \stackrel{r}{\rightarrow} H[t]$, and conjecture an upper bound of the form $c^t$, wher…
We investigate the Ramsey numbers $r(I_m, L_n)$ which is the minimal natural number $k$ such that every oriented graph on $k$ vertices contains either an independent set of size $m$ or a transitive tournament on $n$ vertices. Apart from the finitary combinatorial interest, these Ramsey numbers are of interest to set theorists since it is known that $r(ωm, n) = ωr(I_m, L_n)$, where $ω$ is the lowest transfinite ordinal number, and $r(κm, n) = κr(I_m, L_n)$ for all initial ordinals $κ$. Continuing the research by Bermond from 1974 who did show $r(I_3, L_3) = 9$, we prove $r(I_4, L_3) = 15$ and $…
We study the multicolor Ramsey numbers for paths and even cycles, $R_k(P_n)$ and $R_k(C_n)$, which are the smallest integers $N$ such that every coloring of the complete graph $K_N$ has a monochromatic copy of $P_n$ or $C_n$ respectively. For a long time, $R_k(P_n)$ has only been known to lie between $(k-1+o(1))n$ and $(k + o(1))n$. A recent breakthrough by Sárközy and later improvement by Davies, Jenssen and Roberts give an upper bound of $(k - \frac{1}{4} + o(1))n$. We improve the upper bound to $(k - \frac{1}{2}+ o(1))n$. Our approach uses structural insights in connected graphs without a l…
Given a graph $G$ and a positive integer $k$, the \emph{Gallai-Ramsey number} is defined to be the minimum number of vertices $n$ such that any $k$-edge coloring of $K_n$ contains either a rainbow (all different colored) triangle or a monochromatic copy of $G$. In this paper, we obtain general upper and lower bounds on the Gallai-Ramsey numbers for books $B_{m} = K_{2} + \overline{K_{m}}$ and prove sharp results for $m \leq 5$.
Let $K\_{[k,t]}$ be the complete graph on $k$ vertices from which a set of edges, induced by a clique of order $t$, has been dropped. In this note we give two explicit upper bounds for $R(K\_{[k\_1,t\_1]},\dots, K\_{[k\_r,t\_r]})$ (the smallest integer $n$ such that for any $r$-edge coloring of $K\_n$ there always occurs a monochromatic $K\_{[k\_i,t\_i]}$ for some $i$). Our first upper bound contains a classical one in the case when $k\_1=\cdots =k\_r$ and $t\_i=1$ for all $i$. The second one is obtained by introducing a new edge coloring called {\em $χ\_r$-colorings}. We finally discuss a con…
