Suppose that a hypergraph ${\mathcal H}$ and an arbitrary nonempty (finite or infinite) set of available colors are given. Each color $x$ is associated with a frequency $τ(x)$, where the set of all such frequencies is bounded. We define a new parameter called the {\it $τ$-matching chromatic number}, denoted by $χ_M(τ, {\mathcal H})$, as the least possible number of colors required to color the edges of ${\mathcal H}$ in such a way that the size of each nonempty monochromatic matching does not exceed the frequency of the corresponding color associated to its edges. The well-known and extensively well-studied chromatic number of general Kneser hypergraph $χ\left( {\rm KG}^r({\mathcal H}) \right)$ is a special case of $χ_M(τ, {\mathcal H})$ when all color frequencies are the fixed constant $r-1$.
In this paper, we establish sharp lower bounds for the parameter $χ_M(τ, {\mathcal H})$, utilizing the concepts of the alternation number and the equitable colorability defect.
Ramsey, Erdos-Rado, and Conlon-Fox-Sudakov have given proofs of the 3-hypergraph Ramsey Theorem with better and better upper bounds on the 3-hypergraph Ramsey Number. Ramsey and Erdos-Rado also prove the a-hypergraph Ramsey Theorem. Conlon-Fox-Sudakov note that their upper bounds on the 3-hypergraph Ramsey Numbers, together with a recurrence of Erdos-Rado (which was the key to the Erdos-Rado proof), yield improved bounds on the a-hypergraph Ramsey numbers. We present all of these proofs and state explicit bounds for the 2-color case and the c-color case. We give a more detailed analysis of the…
A uniform hypergraph $H$ is called $k$-Ramsey for a hypergraph $F$, if no matter how one colors the edges of $H$ with $k$ colors, there is always a monochromatic copy of $F$. We say that $H$ is minimal $k$-Ramsey for $F$, if $H$ is $k$-Ramsey for $F$ but every proper subhypergraph of $H$ is not. Burr, Erdős and Lovasz studied various parameters of minimal Ramsey graphs. In this paper we initiate the study of minimum degrees and codegrees of minimal Ramsey $3$-uniform hypergraphs. We show that the smallest minimum vertex degree over all minimal $k$-Ramsey $3$-uniform hypergraphs for $K_t^{(3)}$…
The size-Ramsey number of a graph $G$ is the minimum number of edges in a graph $H$ such that every 2-edge-coloring of $H$ yields a monochromatic copy of $G$. Size-Ramsey numbers of graphs have been studied for almost 40 years with particular focus on the case of trees and bounded degree graphs. We initiate the study of size-Ramsey numbers for $k$-uniform hypergraphs. Analogous to the graph case, we consider the size-Ramsey number of cliques, paths, trees, and bounded degree hypergraphs. Our results suggest that size-Ramsey numbers for hypergraphs are extremely difficult to determine, and many…
Much recent progress in hypergraph Ramsey theory has focused on constructions that lead to lower bounds for the corresponding Ramsey numbers. In this paper, we consider applications of these results to Gallai colorings. That is, we focus on the Ramsey numbers resulting from only considering $t$-colorings of the hyperedges of complete $r$-uniform hypergraphs in which no rainbow $K_{r+1}^{(r)}$-subhypergraphs exists. We also provide new constructions which imply improved lower bounds for many $3$ and $4$-uniform Ramsey numbers and $3$ and $4$-uniform Gallai-Ramsey numbers.
The anti-Ramsey problem was introduced by Erdős, Simonovits and Sós in 1970s. The anti-Ramsey number of a hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$, $ar(n,s, \mathcal{H})$, is the smallest integer $c$ such that in any coloring of the edges of the $s$-uniform complete hypergraph on $n$ vertices with exactly $c$ colors, there is a copy of $\mathcal{H}$ whose edges have distinct colors. In this paper, we determine the anti-Ramsey numbers of linear paths and loose paths in hypergraphs for sufficiently large $n$, and give bounds for the anti-Ramsey numbers of Berge paths. Similar exact anti-Ramsey numbers are obtai…
We improve upon the lower bound for 3-colour hypergraph Ramsey numbers, showing, in the 3-uniform case, that \[r_3 (l,l,l) \geq 2^{l^{c \log \log l}}.\] The old bound, due to Erdős and Hajnal, was \[r_3 (l,l,l) \geq 2^{c l^2 \log^2 l}.\]
Chvátal, Rödl, Szemerédi and Trotter proved that the Ramsey numbers of graphs of bounded maximum degree are linear in their order. We prove that the same holds for 3-uniform hypergraphs. The main new tool which we prove and use is an embedding lemma for 3-uniform hypergraphs of bounded maximum degree into suitable 3-uniform `pseudo-random' hypergraphs.
The classical hypergraph 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 survey a variety of problems and results in hypergraph Ramsey theory that have grown out of understanding the quantitative aspects of $r_k(s,n)$. Our focus is on recent developments and open problems.
Chvatal, Roedl, Szemeredi and Trotter proved that the Ramsey numbers of graphs of bounded maximum degree are linear in their order. In previous work, we proved the same result for 3-uniform hypergraphs. Here we extend this result to k-uniform hypergraphs, for any integer k > 3. As in the 3-uniform case, the main new tool which we prove and use is an embedding lemma for k-uniform hypergraphs of bounded maximum degree into suitable k-uniform `quasi-random' hypergraphs.
In 1991, McKay and Radziszowski proved that, however each 3-subset of a 13-set is assigned one of two colours, there is some 4-subset whose four 3-subsets have the same colour. More than 25 years later, this remains the only non-trivial classical Ramsey number known for hypergraphs. In this article, we find all the extremal colourings of the 3-subsets of a 12-set and list some of their properties. Using the catalogue, we provide an answer to a question of Dudek, Fleur, Mubayi and Rödl about the size-Ramsey numbers of hypergraphs.
The $s$-colour size-Ramsey number of a hypergraph $H$ is the minimum number of edges in a hypergraph $G$ whose every $s$-edge-colouring contains a monochromatic copy of $H$. We show that the $s$-colour size-Ramsey number of the $t$-power of the $r$-uniform tight path on $n$ vertices is linear in $n$, for every fixed $r, s, t$, thus answering a question of Dudek, La Fleur, Mubayi, and Rödl (2017). In fact, we prove a stronger result that allows us to deduce that powers of bounded degree hypergraph trees and powers of `long subdivisions' of bounded degree hypergraphs have size-Ramsey numbers tha…
For a graph $G=(V,E)$, a hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ is called a Berge-$G$, denoted by $BG$, if there exists a bijection $f: E(G) \to E(\mathcal{H})$ such that for every $e \in E(G)$, $e \subseteq f(e)$. Let the Ramsey number $R^r(BG,BG)$ be the smallest integer $n$ such that for any $2$-edge-coloring of a complete $r$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices, there is a monochromatic Berge-$G$ subhypergraph. In this paper, we show that the 2-color Ramsey number of Berge cliques is linear. In particular, we show that $R^3(BK_s, BK_t) = s+t-3$ for $s,t \geq 4$ and $\max(s,t) \geq 5$ where $BK_n$ is a Be…
Recently, asymptotic values of 2-color Ramsey numbers for loose cycles and also loose paths were determined. Here we determine the 2-color Ramsey number of 3-uniform loose paths when one of the paths is significantly larger than the other: for every $n\geq \Big\lfloor\frac{5m}{4}\Big\rfloor$, we show that $$R(\mathcal{P}^3_n,\mathcal{P}^3_m)=2n+\Big\lfloor\frac{m+1}{2}\Big\rfloor.$$
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…
We show that there is an absolute constant $c>0$ such that the following holds. For every $n > 1$, there is a 5-uniform hypergraph on at least $2^{2^{cn^{1/4}}}$ vertices with independence number at most $n$, where every set of 6 vertices induces at most 3 edges. The double exponential growth rate for the number of vertices is sharp. By applying a stepping-up lemma established by the first two authors, analogous sharp results are proved for $k$-uniform hypergraphs. This answers the penultimate open case of a conjecture in Ramsey theory posed by Erdős and Hajnal in 1972.
Let $G$ be an $r$-uniform hypergraph. When is it possible to orient the edges of $G$ in such a way that every $p$-set of vertices has some $p$-degree equal to $0$? (The $p$-degrees generalise for sets of vertices what in-degree and out-degree are for single vertices in directed graphs.) Caro and Hansberg asked if the obvious Hall-type necessary condition is also sufficient. Our main aim is to show that this is true for $r$ large (for given $p$), but false in general. Our counterexample is based on a new technique in sparse Ramsey theory that may be of independent interest.
The family $D(k,m)$ of graphs having an orientation such that for every vertex $v \in V(G)$ either (outdegree) $°^+(v) \le k$ or (indegree) $°^-(v) \le m$ have been investigated recently in several papers because of the role $D(k,m)$ plays in the efforts to estimate the maximum directed cut in digraphs and the minimum cover of digraphs by directed cuts. Results concerning the chromatic number of graphs in the family $D(k,m)$ have been obtained via the notion of $d$-degeneracy of graphs. In this paper we consider a far reaching generalization of the family $D(k,m)$, in a complementary form, int…
An edge-colored hypergraph is rainbow if all of its edges have different colors. Given two hypergraphs $\mathcal{H}$ and $\mathcal{G}$, the anti-Ramsey number $ar(\mathcal{G}, \mathcal{H})$ of $\mathcal{H}$ in $\mathcal{G}$ is the maximum number of colors needed to color the edges of $\mathcal{G}$ so that there does not exist a rainbow copy of $\mathcal{H}$. Li et al. determined the anti-Ramsey number of $k$-matchings in complete bipartite graphs. Jin and Zang showed the uniqueness of the extremal coloring. In this paper, as a generalization of these results, we determine the anti-Ramsey numbe…
We give a short proof that any k-uniform hypergraph H on n vertices with bounded degree Δhas Ramsey number at most c(Δ, k)n, for an appropriate constant c(Δ, k). This result was recently proved by several authors, but those proofs are all based on applications of the hypergraph regularity method. Here we give a much simpler, self-contained proof which uses new techniques developed recently by the authors together with an argument of Kostochka and Rödl. Moreover, our method demonstrates that, for k \geq 4, c(Δ, k) \leq 2^{2^{\Ddots^{2^{c Δ}}}}, where the tower is of height k and the constant c …
We give asymptotically optimal constructions in generalized Ramsey theory using results about conflict-free hypergraph matchings. For example, we present an edge-coloring of $K_{n,n}$ with $2n/3 + o(n)$ colors such that each $4$-cycle receives at least three colors on its edges. This answers a question of Axenovich, Füredi and the second author (On generalized Ramsey theory: the bipartite case, J. Combin. Theory Ser B 79 (2000), 66--86). We also exhibit an edge-coloring of $K_n$ with $5n/6+o(n)$ colors that assigns each copy of $K_4$ at least five colors. This gives an alternative very short s…
In this paper, for sufficiently large $n$ we determine the Ramsey number $R(G,nH)$ where $G$ is a $k$-uniform hypergraph with the maximum independent set that intersects each of the edges in $k-1$ vertices and $H$ is a $k$-uniform hypergraph with a vertex so that the hypergraph induced by the edges containing this vertex is a star. There are several examples for such $G$ and $H$, among them are any disjoint union of $k$-uniform hypergraphs involving loose paths, loose cycles, tight paths, tight cycles with a multiple of $k$ edges, stars, Kneser hypergraphs and complete $k$-uniform $k$-partite …
For an integer $k \geq 2$, an ordered $k$-uniform hypergraph $\mathcal{H}=(H,<)$ is a $k$-uniform hypergraph $H$ together with a fixed linear ordering $<$ of its vertex set. The ordered Ramsey number $\overline{R}(\mathcal{H},\mathcal{G})$ of two ordered $k$-uniform hypergraphs $\mathcal{H}$ and $\mathcal{G}$ is the smallest $N \in \mathbb{N}$ such that every red-blue coloring of the hyperedges of the ordered complete $k$-uniform hypergraph $\mathcal{K}^{(k)}_N$ on $N$ vertices contains a blue copy of $\mathcal{H}$ or a red copy of $\mathcal{G}$. The ordered Ramsey numbers are quite extensivel…
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 $k\geq 8$ $$R(\mathcal{C}^k_n,\mathcal{C}^k_n)=…
For an arbitrary graph $G$, a hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ is called Berge-$G$ if there is a bijection $Φ:E(G)\longrightarrow E( \mathcal{H})$ such that for each $e\in E(G)$, we have $e\subseteq Φ(e)$. We denote by $\mathcal{B}^rG$, the family of $r$-uniform Berge-$G$ hypergraphs. For families $\mathcal{H}_1, \mathcal{H}_2,\ldots, \mathcal{H}_t$ of $r$-uniform hypergraphs, the Ramsey number $R(\mathcal{H}_1, \mathcal{H}_2,\ldots, \mathcal{H}_t)$ is the smallest integer $n$ such that in every $t$-hyperedge coloring of $\mathcal{K}_{n}^r$ there is a monochromatic copy of a hypergraph in $\mathcal{H}…
We show that the Ramsey number is linear for every uniform hypergraph with bounded-degree. This is a hypergraph extension of the famous theorem for ordinary graphs which Chvátal et al. showed in 1983. Our proof is simple, contains the multicolor case, and provides a strong embedding lemma. It shows the potential of a new hypergraph regularity lemma by the author.
The Ramsey number $r_k(s,n)$ is the minimum $N$ such that for every red-blue coloring of the $k$-tuples of $\{1,\ldots, N\}$, there are $s$ integers such that every $k$-tuple among them is red, or $n$ integers such that every $k$-tuple among them is blue. We prove the following new lower bounds for 4-uniform hypergraph Ramsey numbers: $$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 …
Let t be an integer, f(n) a function, and H a graph. Define the t-Ramsey-Turán number of H, RT_t(n, H, f(n)), to be the maximum number of edges in an n-vertex, H-free graph G where f(n) is larger than the maximum number of vertices in a $K_t$-free induced subgraph of G. Erdős, Hajnal, Simonovits, Sós, and Szemerédi posed several open questions about RT_t(n,K_s,o(n)), among them finding the minimum s such that $RT_t(n,K_{t+s},o(n)) = Ω(n^2)$, where it is easy to see that $RT_t(n,K_{t+1},o(n)) = o(n^2)$. In this paper, we answer this question by proving that $RT_t(n,K_{t+2},o(n)) = Ω(n^2)$; our …
The hypergraph Ramsey number of two $3$-uniform hypergraphs $G$ and $H$, denoted by $R(G,H)$, is the least integer $N$ such that every red-blue edge-coloring of the complete $3$-uniform hypergraph on $N$ vertices contains a red copy of $G$ or a blue copy of $H$. The Fano plane $\mathbb{F}$ is the unique 3-uniform hypergraph with seven edges on seven vertices in which every pair of vertices is contained in a unique edge. There is a simple construction showing that $R(H,\mathbb{F}) \ge 2(v(H)-1) + 1.$ Hypergraphs $H$ for which the equality holds are called $\mathbb{F}$-good. Conlon asked to dete…
Let n \geq l \geq 2 and q \geq 2. We consider the minimum N such that whenever we have N points in the plane in general position and the l-subsets of these points are colored with q colors, there is a subset S of n points all of whose l-subsets have the same color and furthermore S is in convex position. This combines two classical areas of intense study over the last 75 years: the Ramsey problem for hypergraphs and the Erd\H os-Szekeres theorem on convex configurations in the plane. For the special case l = 2, we establish a single exponential bound on the minimum N, such that every complete …
The well-known Ramsey number $r(t,u)$ is the smallest integer $n$ such that every $K_t$-free graph of order $n$ contains an independent set of size $u$. In other words, it contains a subset of $u$ vertices with no $K_2$. Erd{\H o}s and Rogers introduced a more general problem replacing $K_2$ by $K_s$ for $2\le s<t$. Extending the problem of determining Ramsey numbers they defined the numbers $$ f_{s,t}(n)=\min \big{\{} \max \{|W| : W\subseteq V(G) \text{and} G[W] \text{contains no} K_s\}\big{\}}, $$ where the minimum is taken over all $K_t$-free graphs $G$ of order $n$. In this note, we study …
The induced Ramsey number $r_{\mathrm{ind}}(F)$ of a $k$-uniform hypergraph $F$ is the smallest natural number $n$ for which there exists a $k$-uniform hypergraph $G$ on $n$ vertices such that every two-coloring of the edges of $G$ contains an induced monochromatic copy of $F$. We study this function, showing that $r_{\mathrm{ind}}(F)$ is bounded above by a reasonable power of $r(F)$. In particular, our result implies that $r_{\mathrm{ind}}(F) \leq 2^{2^{ct}}$ for any $3$-uniform hypergraph $F$ with $t$ vertices, mirroring the best known bound for the usual Ramsey number. The proof relies on a…
A question of Erdős asks if for every pair of positive integers $r$ and $k$, there exists a graph $H$ having $\textrm{girth}(H)=k$ and the property that every $r$-colouring of the edges of $H$ yields a monochromatic cycle $C_k$. The existence of such graphs was confirmed by the third author and Ruciński. We consider the related numerical problem of determining the smallest such graph with this property. We show that for integers $r$ and $k$, there exists a graph $H$ on $R^{10k^2} k^{15k^3}$ vertices (where $R = R(C_k;r)$ is the $r$-colour Ramsey number for the cycle $C_k$) having $\textrm{girt…
We give a probabilistic construction of a $3$-uniform hypergraph on $N$ vertices with independence number $O(\log N / \log \log N)$ in which there are at most two edges among any four vertices. This bound is tight and solves a longstanding open problem of Erdős and Hajnal in Ramsey theory. We further extend this result to prove tight bounds on various other hypergraph Ramsey numbers.
Recent work in hypergraph Ramsey theory has involved the introduction of a "lifting map" that associates a certain $3$-uniform hypergraph to a given graph, bounding cliques in a predictable way. In this paper, we interpret the lifting map as a linear transformation. This interpretation allows us to use algebraic techniques to prove several structural properties of the lifting map, culminating in new lower bounds for certain $3$-uniform hypergraph Ramsey numbers.
Many important problems in combinatorics and other related areas can be phrased in the language of independent sets in hypergraphs. Recently Balogh, Morris and Samotij, and independently Saxton and Thomason developed very general container theorems for independent sets in hypergraphs; both of which have seen numerous applications to a wide range of problems. In this paper we use the container method to give relatively short and elementary proofs of a number of results concerning Ramsey (and Turán) properties of (hyper)graphs and the integers. In particular: (i) We generalise the random Ramsey …
One of the central questions in Ramsey theory asks how small can be the size of the largest clique and independent set in a graph on $N$ vertices. By the celebrated result of Erdős from 1947, the random graph on $N$ vertices with edge probability $1/2$, contains no clique or independent set larger than $2\log_2 N$, with high probability. Finding explicit constructions of graphs with similar Ramsey-type properties is a famous open problem. A natural approach is to construct such graphs using algebraic tools. Say that an $r$-uniform hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ is \emph{algebraic of complexity $(n,d…
The Ramsey number r_k(s,n) is the minimum N such that every red-blue coloring of the k-tuples of an N-element set contains either a red set of size s or a blue set of size n, where a set is called red (blue) if all k-tuples from this set are red (blue). In this paper we obtain new estimates for several basic hypergraph Ramsey problems. We give a new upper bound for r_k(s,n) for k \geq 3 and s fixed. In particular, we show that r_3(s,n) \leq 2^{n^{s-2}\log n}, which improves by a factor of n^{s-2}/ polylog n the exponent of the previous upper bound of Erdos and Rado from 1952. We also obtain a …
For a graph $G$, a hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ is a Berge copy of $G$ (or a Berge-$G$ in short), if there is a bijection $f : E(G) \rightarrow E(\mathcal{H})$ such that for each $e \in E(G)$ we have $e \subseteq f(e)$. We denote the family of $r$-uniform hypergraphs that are Berge copies of $G$ by $B^rG$. For families of $r$-uniform hypergraphs $\mathbf{H}$ and $\mathbf{H}'$, we denote by $R(\mathbf{H},\mathbf{H}')$ the smallest number $n$ such that in any blue-red coloring of $\mathcal{K}_n^r$ (the complete $r$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices) there is a monochromatic blue copy of a hypergrap…
Given a hypergraph $H$, the size-Ramsey number $\hat{r}_2(H)$ is the smallest integer $m$ such that there exists a graph $G$ with $m$ edges with the property that in any colouring of the edges of $G$ with two colours there is a monochromatic copy of $H$. We prove that the size-Ramsey number of the $3$-uniform tight path on $n$ vertices $P^{(3)}_n$ is linear in $n$, i.e., $\hat{r}_2(P^{(3)}_n) = O(n)$. This answers a question by Dudek, Fleur, Mubayi, and Rödl for $3$-uniform hypergraphs [On the size-Ramsey number of hypergraphs, J. Graph Theory 86 (2016), 417-434], who proved $\hat{r}_2(P^{(3)}…
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…
