English

Some exact values on Ramsey numbers related to fans

Combinatorics 2022-11-08 v2

Abstract

For two given graphs FF and HH, the Ramsey number R(F,H)R(F,H) is the smallest integer NN such that any red-blue edge-coloring of the complete graph KNK_N contains a red FF or a blue HH. When F=HF=H, we simply write R2(H)R_2(H). For an positive integer nn, let K1,nK_{1,n} be a star with n+1n+1 vertices, FnF_n be a fan with 2n+12n+1 vertices consisting of nn triangles sharing one common vertex, and nK3nK_3 be a graph with 3n3n vertices obtained from the disjoint union of nn triangles. In 1975, Burr, Erd\H{o}s and Spencer \cite{B} proved that R2(nK3)=5nR_2(nK_3)=5n for n2n\ge2. However, determining the exact value of R2(Fn)R_2(F_n) is notoriously difficult. So far, only R2(F2)=9R_2(F_2)=9 has been proved. Notice that both FnF_n and nK3nK_3 contain nn triangles and V(Fn)<V(nK3)|V(F_n)|<|V(nK_3)| for all n2n\ge 2. Chen, Yu and Zhao (2021) speculated that R2(Fn)R2(nK3)=5nR_2(F_n)\le R_2(nK_3)=5n for nn sufficiently large. In this paper, we first prove that R(K1,n,Fn)=3nεR(K_{1,n},F_n)=3n-\varepsilon for n1n\ge1, where ε=0\varepsilon=0 if nn is odd and ε=1\varepsilon=1 if nn is even. Applying the exact values of R(K1,n,Fn)R(K_{1,n},F_n), we will confirm R2(Fn)5nR_2(F_n)\le 5n for n=3n=3 by showing that R2(F3)=14R_2(F_3)=14.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2211.02338,
  title  = {Some exact values on Ramsey numbers related to fans},
  author = {Qinghong Zhao and Bing Wei},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.02338},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

10 pages, 3 figures