English

A step forwards on the Erd\H{o}s-S\'os problem concerning the Ramsey numbers $R(3,k)$

Combinatorics 2015-07-07 v1

Abstract

Let Δs=R(K3,Ks)R(K3,Ks1)\Delta_s=R(K_3,K_s)-R(K_3,K_{s-1}), where R(G,H)R(G,H) is the Ramsey number of graphs GG and HH defined as the smallest nn such that any edge coloring of KnK_n with two colors contains GG in the first color or HH in the second color. In 1980, Erd\H{o}s and S\'{o}s posed some questions about the growth of Δs\Delta_s. The best known concrete bounds on Δs\Delta_s are 3Δss3 \le \Delta_s \le s, and they have not improved since the stating of the problem. In this paper we present some constructions, which imply in particular that R(K3,Ks)R(K3,Ks1e)+4R(K_3,K_s) \ge R(K_3,K_{s-1}-e) + 4. This does not improve the lower bound of 3 on Δs\Delta_s, but we still consider it a step towards to understanding its growth. We discuss some related questions and state two conjectures involving Δs\Delta_s, including the following: for some constant dd and all ss it holds that ΔsΔs+1d\Delta_s - \Delta_{s+1} \leq d. We also prove that if the latter is true, then limsΔs/s=0\lim_{s \rightarrow \infty} \Delta_s/s=0.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1507.01133,
  title  = {A step forwards on the Erd\H{o}s-S\'os problem concerning the Ramsey numbers $R(3,k)$},
  author = {Rujie Zhu and Xiaodong Xu and Stanisław Radziszowski},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1507.01133},
  year   = {2015}
}

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10 pages