New Computational Upper Bounds for Ramsey Numbers R(3,k)

TL;DR

This paper uses computational methods to improve upper bounds on certain Ramsey numbers by analyzing triangle-free graphs and their properties, providing new bounds and insights into critical graph structures.

Contribution

The authors derive six new upper bounds for R(3,k) for specific k values, improving previous bounds by one, and analyze the structure of critical graphs related to these bounds.

Findings

New upper bounds: R(3,10) <= 42, R(3,11) <= 50, R(3,13) <= 68, R(3,14) <= 77, R(3,15) <= 87, R(3,16) <= 98

Uniqueness of the critical graph for R(3,9) on 35 vertices

Disproof of the existence of a regular critical graph for R(3,10) on 42 vertices

Abstract

Using computational techniques we derive six new upper bounds on the classical two-color Ramsey numbers: R(3,10) <= 42, R(3,11) <= 50, R(3,13) <= 68, R(3,14) <= 77, R(3,15) <= 87, and R(3,16) <= 98. All of them are improvements by one over the previously best known bounds. Let e(3,k,n) denote the minimum number of edges in any triangle-free graph on n vertices without independent sets of order k. The new upper bounds on R(3,k) are obtained by completing the computation of the exact values of e(3,k,n) for all n with k <= 9 and for all n <= 33 for k = 10, and by establishing new lower bounds on e(3,k,n) for most of the open cases for 10 <= k <= 15. The enumeration of all graphs witnessing the values of e(3,k,n) is completed for all cases with k <= 9. We prove that the known critical graph for R(3,9) on 35 vertices is unique up to isomorphism. For the case of R(3,10), first we establish that R(3,10) = 43 if and only if e(3,10,42) = 189, or equivalently, that if R(3,10) = 43 then every critical graph is regular of degree 9. Then, using computations, we disprove the existence of the latter, and thus show that R(3,10) <= 42.