English

Lower bounds for online size Ramsey numbers for paths

Combinatorics 2025-04-22 v1

Abstract

Given two graphs H1H_1 and H2H_2, an online Ramsey game is played on the edge set of KNK_\mathbb{N}. In every round Builder selects an edge and Painter colors it red or blue. Builder is trying to force Painter to create a red copy of H1H_1 or a blue copy of H2H_2 as soon as possible, while Painter's goal is the opposite. The online (size) Ramsey number r~(H1,H2)\tilde{r}(H_1,H_2) is the smallest number of rounds in the game provided Builder and Painter play optimally. Let v(G)v(G) be the number of vertices in the graph GG and v1(G)v_1(G) be the number of vertices of degree 1 in GG. We prove that if GG has no isolated vertices, then r~(P7,G)8v(G)/5v1(G)\tilde{r}(P_7,G)\ge 8v(G)/5-v_1(G), r~(P8,G)18v(G)/11v1(G)\tilde{r}(P_8,G)\ge 18v(G)/11-v_1(G) and r~(P9,G)5v(G)/3v1(G)\tilde{r}(P_9,G)\ge 5v(G)/3-v_1(G). In particular r~(P9,Pn)5n/32,\tilde{r}(P_9,P_n)\ge 5n/3-2, which with known upper bound implies limnr~(P9,Pn)/n=5/3.\lim_{n\to\infty} \tilde{r}(P_9,P_n)/n=5/3. We also show that for any fixed kk, limnr~(Pk,Pn)/n\lim_{n\to\infty} \tilde{r}(P_k,P_n)/n exists.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2504.14926,
  title  = {Lower bounds for online size Ramsey numbers for paths},
  author = {Natalia Adamska and Grzegorz Adamski},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.14926},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

20 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-28T23:05:17.004Z