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Chromatic number of spacetime

Combinatorics 2024-11-19 v3 Mathematical Physics Metric Geometry math.MP Number Theory

Abstract

We observe that an old theorem of Graham implies that for any positive integer ss, there exists some positive integer T(s)T(s) such that every ss-colouring of Z2\mathbb{Z}^2 contains a monochromatic pair of points (x,y),(x,y)(x,y),(x',y') with (xx)2(yy)2=(T(s))2(x-x')^2 - (y-y')^2 = (T(s))^2. By scaling, this implies that every finite colouring of Q2\mathbb{Q}^2 contains a monochromatic pair of points (x,y),(x,y)(x,y),(x',y') with (xx)2(yy)2=1(x-x')^2 - (y-y')^2 = 1, which answers in a strong sense a problem of Kosheleva and Kreinovich on a pseudo-Euclidean analogue of the Hadwiger-Nelson problem. The proof of Graham's theorem relies on repeated applications of van der Waerden's theorem, and so the resulting function T(s)T(s) grows extremely quickly. We give an alternative proof in the weaker setting of having a second spacial dimension that results in a significantly improved bound. To be more precise, we prove that for every positive integer ss with r2(mod4)r\equiv 2 \pmod{4}, every ss-colouring of Z3\mathbb{Z}^3 contains a monochromatic pair of points (x,y,z),(x,y,z)(x,y,z),(x',y',z') such that (xx)2+(yy)2(zz)2=(5(s2)/4(85(s2)/2)!)2(x-x')^2 + (y-y')^2 - (z-z')^2 = (5^{(s-2)/4}(8\cdot 5^{(s-2)/2})!)^2. In fact, we prove a stronger density version. The density version in Z2\mathbb{Z}^2 remains open.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2308.16885,
  title  = {Chromatic number of spacetime},
  author = {James Davies},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.16885},
  year   = {2024}
}

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8 pages