English

A note on the maximum ratio between chromatic number and clique number

Combinatorics 2026-02-05 v2

Abstract

Let f(n)f(n) be the maximum, over all graphs GG on nn vertices, of the ratio χ(G)ω(G)\frac{\chi(G)}{\omega(G)}, where χ(G)\chi(G) denotes the chromatic number of GG and ω(G)\omega(G) the clique number of GG. In 1967, Erd\H{o}s showed that (14+o(1))n(log2n)2f(n)(4+o(1))n(log2n)2. \Big( \frac{1}{4} +o(1) \Big) \frac{n}{(\log_2 n)^2} \le f(n) \le \big( 4+o(1) \big) \frac{n}{(\log_2 n)^2} . We show that f(n)(c+o(1))n(log2n)2 f(n) \le \big(c+o(1)\big) \frac{n}{(\log_2 n)^2} for some c<3.72c<3.72. This follows from recent improvements in the asymptotics of Ramsey numbers and is the first improvement in the asymptotics of f(n)f(n) established by Erd\H{o}s.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.16062,
  title  = {A note on the maximum ratio between chromatic number and clique number},
  author = {Igor Araujo and Rafael Filipe and Rafael Miyazaki},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.16062},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

6 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-01T08:30:25.241Z