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.
The book graph $B_n^{(k)}$ consists of $n$ copies of $K_{k+1}$ joined along a common $K_k$. The Ramsey numbers of $B_n^{(k)}$ are known to have strong connections to the classical Ramsey numbers of cliques. Recently, the first author determined the asymptotic order of these Ramsey numbers for fixed $k$, thus answering an old question of Erdős, Faudree, Rousseau, and Schelp. In this paper, we first provide a simpler proof of this theorem. Next, answering a question of the first author, we present a different proof that avoids the use of Szemerédi's regularity lemma, thus providing much tighter …
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.
We prove a new upper bound for diagonal two-colour Ramsey numbers, showing that there exists a constant $C$ such that \[r(k+1, k+1) \leq k^{- C \frac{\log k}{\log \log k}} \binom{2k}{k}.\]
The book graph $B_n^{(k)}$ consists of $n$ copies of $K_{k+1}$ joined along a common $K_k$. In the prequel to this paper, we studied the diagonal Ramsey number $r(B_n^{(k)}, B_n^{(k)})$. Here we consider the natural off-diagonal variant $r(B_{cn}^{(k)}, B_n^{(k)})$ for fixed $c \in (0,1]$. In this more general setting, we show that an interesting dichotomy emerges: for very small $c$, a simple $k$-partite construction dictates the Ramsey function and all nearly-extremal colorings are close to being $k$-partite, while, for $c$ bounded away from $0$, random colorings of an appropriate density ar…
A $k$-uniform loose cycle $\mathcal{C}_n^k$ is a hypergraph with vertex set $\{v_1,v_2,\ldots,v_{n(k-1)}\}$ and with the set of $n$ edges $e_i=\{v_{(i-1)(k-1)+1},v_{(i-1)(k-1)+2},\ldots,v_{(i-1)(k-1)+k}\}$, $1\leq i\leq n$, where we use mod $n(k-1)$ arithmetic. The Ramsey number $R(\mathcal{C}^k_n,\mathcal{C}^k_n)$ is asymptotically $\frac{1}{2}(2k-1)n$ as has been proved by Gyárfás, Sárközy and Szemerédi. In this paper, we investigate to determining the exact value of diagonal Ramsey number of $\mathcal{C}^k_n$ and we show that for $n\geq 2$ and $k\geq 8$ $$R(\mathcal{C}^k_n,\mathcal{C}^k_n)=…
Let the star on $n$ vertices, namely $K_{1,n-1}$ be denoted by $S_n$. If every two coloring of the edges of a complete balanced multipartite graph $K_{j \times s}$ there is a copy of $S_n$ in the first color or a copy of $S_m$ in the second color, then we will say $K_{j \times s}\rightarrow (S_n,S_m)$. The size Ramsey multipartite number $m_j(S_n, S_m)$ is the smallest natural number $s$ such that $K_{j \times s}\rightarrow (S_n,S_m)$. In this paper, we obtain the exact values of the size Ramsey numbers $m_j(S_n,S_m)$ for $n,m \ge 3$ and $j \ge 3$.
Let $R(k_1, \cdots, k_r)$ denote the classical $r$-color Ramsey number for integers $k_i \ge 2$. The Diagonal Conjecture (DC) for classical Ramsey numbers poses that if $k_1, \cdots, k_r$ are integers no smaller than 3 and $k_{r-1} \leq k_r$, then $R(k_1, \cdots, k_{r-2}, k_{r-1}-1, k_r +1) \leq R(k_1, \cdots, k_r)$. We obtain some implications of this conjecture, present evidence for its validity, and discuss related problems. Let $R_r(k)$ stand for the $r$-color Ramsey number $R(k, \cdots, k)$. It is known that $\lim_{r \rightarrow \infty} R_r(3)^{1/r}$ exists, either finite or infinite, the…
For ordered graphs $G$ and $H$, the ordered Ramsey number $r_<(G,H)$ is the smallest $n$ such that every red/blue edge coloring of the complete graph on vertices $\{1,\dots,n\}$ contains either a blue copy of $G$ or a red copy of $H$, where the embedding must preserve the relative order of vertices. One number of interest, first studied by Conlon, Fox, Lee, and Sudakov, is the "off-diagonal" ordered Ramsey number $r_<(M, K_3)$, where $M$ is an ordered matching on $n$ vertices. In particular, Conlon et al. asked what asymptotic bounds (in $n$) can be obtained for $\max r_<(M, K_3)$, where the m…
A recent breakthrough of Conlon and Ferber yielded an exponential improvement on the lower bounds for multicolor diagonal Ramsey numbers. In this note, we modify their construction and obtain improved bounds for more than three colors.
The Ramsey number $r_k(s,n)$ is the minimum $N$ such that every red-blue coloring of the $k$-subsets of $\{1, \ldots, N\}$ contains a red set of size $s$ or a blue set of size $n$, where a set is red (blue) if all of its $k$-subsets are red (blue). A $k$-uniform \emph{tight path} of size $s$, denoted by $P_{s}$, is a set of $s$ vertices $v_1 < \cdots < v_{s}$ in $\mathbb{Z}$, and all $s-k+1$ edges of the form $\{v_j,v_{j+1},\ldots, v_{j + k -1}\}$. Let $r_k(P_s, n)$ be the minimum $N$ such that every red-blue coloring of the $k$-subsets of $\{1, \ldots, N\}$ results in a red $P_{s}$ or a blue …
The $(m,n)$-online Ramsey game is a combinatorial game between two players, Builder and Painter. Starting from an infinite set of isolated vertices, Builder draws an edge on each turn and Painter immediately paints it red or blue. Builder's goal is to force Painter to create either a red $K_m$ or a blue $K_n$ using as few turns as possible. The online Ramsey number $\tilde{r}(m,n)$ is the minimum number of edges Builder needs to guarantee a win in the $(m,n)$-online Ramsey game. By analyzing the special case where Painter plays randomly, we obtain an exponential improvement \[ \tilde{r}(n,n) \…
One formulation of the Erdos-Szekeres monotone subsequence theorem states that for any red/blue coloring of the edge set of the complete graph on $\{1, 2, \ldots, N\}$, there exists a monochromatic red $s$-clique or a monochromatic blue increasing path $P_n$ with $n$ vertices, provided $N >(s-1)(n-1)$. %We had previously shown that a suitable generalization of this problem to quadruple systems is essentially equivalent to classical diagonal hypergraph Ramsey numbers. Here, we prove a similar statement as above in the off-diagonal case for triple systems, with the quasipolynomial bound $N>2^{c(…
We determine the $2$-color Ramsey number of a {\em connected} triangle matching $c(nK_3)$ which is any connected graph containing $n$ vertex disjoint triangles. We obtain that $R(c(nK_3),c(nK_3))=7n-2$, somewhat larger than in the classical result of Burr, Erd\H os and Spencer for a triangle matching, $R(nK_3,nK_3)=5n$. The motivation is to determine the Ramsey number $R(C_n^2,C_n^2)$ of the square of a cycle $C_n^2$. We apply our Ramsey result for connected triangle matchings to show that the Ramsey number of an "almost" square of a cycle $C_n^{2,c}$ (a cycle of length $n$ in which all but at…
Does the $n^{th}$ root of the diagonal Ramsey number converge to a finite limit? The answer is yes. A sequence can be shown to converge if it satifies convergence conditions other than or besides monotonicity. We show such a property holds for which the sequence of $n^{th}$ roots does converge, even if one has no a priori knowledge as to whether the sequence is monotone or not. We show also the $n^{th}$ root of the diagonal Ramsey number can be expressed as a product of two factors, the first being a known convergent sequence and the second being an absolutely convergent infinite series. One a…
Let $K_m^{(3)}$ denote the complete $3$-uniform hypergraph on $m$ vertices and $S_n^{(3)}$ the $3$-uniform hypergraph on $n+1$ vertices consisting of all $\binom{n}{2}$ edges incident to a given vertex. Whereas many hypergraph Ramsey numbers grow either at most polynomially or at least exponentially, we show that the off-diagonal Ramsey number $r(K_{4}^{(3)},S_n^{(3)})$ exhibits an unusual intermediate growth rate, namely, \[ 2^{c \log^2 n} \le r(K_{4}^{(3)},S_n^{(3)}) \le 2^{c' n^{2/3}\log n} \] for some positive constants $c$ and $c'$. The proof of these bounds brings in a novel Ramsey probl…
In 1967, Erdős asked for the greatest chromatic number, $f(n)$, amongst all $n$-vertex, triangle-free graphs. An observation of Erdős and Hajnal together with Shearer's classical upper bound for the off-diagonal Ramsey number $R(3, t)$ shows that $f(n)$ is at most $(2 \sqrt{2} + o(1)) \sqrt{n/\log n}$. We improve this bound by a factor $\sqrt{2}$, as well as obtaining an analogous bound on the list chromatic number which is tight up to a constant factor. A bound in terms of the number of edges that is similarly tight follows, and these results confirm a conjecture of Cames van Batenburg, de Jo…
Gyárfás et al. determined the asymptotic value of the diagonal Ramsey number of $\mathcal{C}^k_n$, $R(\mathcal{C}^k_n,\mathcal{C}^k_n),$ generating the same result for $k=3$ due to Haxell et al. Recently, the exact values of the Ramsey numbers of 3-uniform loose paths and cycles are completely determined. These results are motivations to conjecture that for every $n\geq m\geq 3$ and $k\geq 3,$ $$R(\mathcal{C}^k_n,\mathcal{C}^k_m)=(k-1)n+\lfloor\frac{m-1}{2}\rfloor,$$ as mentioned by Omidi et al. More recently, it is shown that this conjecture is true for $n=m\geq 2$ and $k\geq 7$ and for $k=4$…
For two graphs $G^<$ and $H^<$ with linearly ordered vertex sets, the ordered Ramsey number $r_<(G^<,H^<)$ is the minimum $N$ such that every red-blue coloring of the edges of the ordered complete graph on $N$ vertices contains a red copy of $G^<$ or a blue copy of $H^<$. For a positive integer $n$, a nested matching $NM^<_n$ is the ordered graph on $2n$ vertices with edges $\{i,2n-i+1\}$ for every $i=1,\dots,n$. We improve bounds on the ordered Ramsey numbers $r_<(NM^<_n,K^<_3)$ obtained by Rohatgi, we disprove his conjecture by showing $4n+1 \leq r_<(NM^<_n,K^<_3) \leq (3+\sqrt{5})n$ for eve…
A k-ary semi-algebraic relation E on R^d is a subset of R^{kd}, the set of k-tuples of points in R^d, which is determined by a finite number of polynomial equations and inequalities in kd real variables. The description complexity of such a relation is at most t if the number of polynomials and their degrees are all bounded by t. A subset A of R^d is called homogeneous if all or none of the k-tuples from A satisfy E. A large number of geometric Ramsey-type problems and results can be formulated as questions about finding large homogeneous subsets of sets in R^d equipped with semi-algebraic rel…
The Ramsey number $r_k(s,n)$ is the minimum $N$ such that for every red-blue coloring of the $k$-tuples of $\{1,\ldots, N\}$, there are $s$ integers such that every $k$-tuple among them is red, or $n$ integers such that every $k$-tuple among them is blue. We prove the following new lower bounds for 4-uniform hypergraph Ramsey numbers: $$r_4(5,n) > 2^{n^{c\log n}} \qquad \hbox{ and } \qquad r_4(6,n) > 2^{2^{cn^{1/5}}},$$ where $c$ is an absolute positive constant. This substantially improves the previous best bounds of $2^{n^{c\log\log n}}$ and $2^{n^{c\log n}}$, respectively. Using previously …
The poset Ramsey number $R(Q_m,Q_n)$ is the smallest integer $N$ such that any blue-red coloring of the elements of the Boolean lattice $Q_N$ has a blue induced copy of $Q_m$ or a red induced copy of $Q_n$. The weak poset Ramsey number $R_w(Q_m,Q_n)$ is defined analogously, with weak copies instead of induced copies. It is easy to see that $R(Q_m,Q_n) \ge R_w(Q_m,Q_n)$. Axenovich and Walzer showed that $n+2 \le R(Q_2,Q_n) \le 2n+2$. Recently, Lu and Thompson improved the upper bound to $\frac{5}{3}n+2$. In this paper, we solve this problem asymptotically by showing that $R(Q_2,Q_n)=n+O(n/\log …
For integers $k,r\geq 2$, the diagonal Ramsey number $R_r(k)$ is the minimum $N\in\mathbb{N}$ such that every $r$-coloring of the edges of a complete graph on $N$ vertices yields on a monochromatic subgraph on $k$ vertices. Here we make a careful effort of extracting explicit upper bounds for $R_r(k)$ from the pigeonhole principle alone. Our main term improves on previously documented explicit bounds for $r\geq 3$, and we also consider an often ignored secondary term, which allows us to subtract a uniformly bounded below positive proportion of the main term. Asymptotically, we give a self-cont…