English

Schrijver Number Quasi-Tensorization and Multicolor Ramsey Bounds via Robust OR Polynomials

Combinatorics 2026-07-27 v1 Discrete Mathematics

Abstract

We introduce a robust OR polynomial framework for composing positive semidefinite certificates across OR constraints. We demonstrate the power of this method in two applications. The first is on acute-free families. A set F={(xi(1),,xi(r))}i=1M(Sn1)r\mathcal F=\{(x_i^{(1)},\ldots,x_i^{(r)})\}_{i=1}^M \subseteq (S^{n-1})^r is rr-way acute-free if, for every iji\neq j, there is a coordinate t[r]t\in[r] such that xi(t),xj(t)0\langle x_i^{(t)},x_j^{(t)}\rangle\leq 0. We write Mr(n)M_r(n) for the maximum size of such a set, and Mr±(n)M_r^{\pm}(n) for the hypercube restriction. On the hypercube, rr-way acute-free sets are independent sets for some strong power graph GnrG_n^{\boxtimes r}. The Lov\'asz theta number ϑ(Gn)\vartheta(G_n) is multiplicative but exponentially loose, whereas the Schrijver number ϑ(Gn)\vartheta'(G_n) gives the correct order, but is not multiplicative. We bypass this obstruction by proving a general quasi-tensorization result for the Schrijver number. That is, for every collection of graphs G1,,GrG_1,\ldots, G_r satisfying ϑ(Gi)2\vartheta'(G_i)\geq 2, there is an absolute constant CC such that ϑ(G1Gr)i=1rϑ(Gi)Clogrlogϑ(Gi)\vartheta'(G_1\boxtimes \cdots \boxtimes G_r) \leq \prod_{i=1}^r \vartheta'(G_i)^{C\log r \log \vartheta'(G_i)}. Applying this result gives that Mr±(n)Mr(n)(2n)C0rlogrlog(2n)M_r^{\pm}(n) \le M_r(n) \le (2n)^{C_0 r\log r\log(2n)} for some absolute constant C0C_0. The second application is on multicolor Ramsey numbers. The rr-color Ramsey number Rr(k)R_r(k) is the minimum nn such that every rr-coloring of the edges of the complete graph on nn vertices contains a monochromatic copy of KkK_k. In a breakthrough result, Balister et al. [arXiv:2410.17197] showed that Rr(k)exp(Ω(k/r12))rrkR_r(k)\le \exp(-\Omega(k/r^{12}))r^{rk} via a geometric lemma. By improving the rr dependency in their geometric lemma via the OR polynomial framework, we prove that Rr(k)exp(Ω(k/(r9(logr)6)))rrkR_r(k)\le \exp(-\Omega(k/(r^9(\log r)^6)))r^{rk}.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.25023,
  title  = {Schrijver Number Quasi-Tensorization and Multicolor Ramsey Bounds via Robust OR Polynomials},
  author = {Ijay Narang and Yukai Tang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.25023},
  year   = {2026}
}