Ramsey-type numbers involving graphs and hypergraphs with large girth

Erdős asked if, for every pair of positive integers g and k, there exists a graph H having girth (H) = k and the property that every r-colouring of the edges of H yields a monochromatic cycle C k . The existence of such graphs H was confirmed by the third author and Ruciński. We consider the related numerical problem of estimating the order of the smallest graph H with this property for given integers r and k. We show that there exists a graph H on R10k2; k15k3 vertices (where R = R(C k ; r) is the r-colour Ramsey number for the cycle C k ) having girth (H) = k and the Ramsey property that every r-colouring of the edges of H yields a monochromatic C k Two related numerical problems regarding arithmetic progressions in subsets of the integers and cliques in graphs are also considered.

On the size-Ramsey number of grid graphs

The size-Ramsey number of a graph F is the smallest number of edges in a graph G with the Ramsey property for F, that is, with the property that any 2-colouring of the edges of G contains a monochromatic copy of F. We prove that the size-Ramsey number of the grid graph on n × n vertices is bounded from above by n3+o(1).

On Ramsey properties, function spaces, and topological games

An open question of Gruenhage asks if all strategically selectively separable spaces are Markov selectively separable, a game-theoretic statement known to hold for countable spaces. As a corollary of a result by Berner and Juh?sz, we note that the ?strong? version of this statement, where the second player is restricted to selecting single points rather than finite subsets, holds for all T3 spaces without isolated points. Continuing this investigation, we also consider games related to selective sequential separability, and demonstrate results analogous to those for selective separability. In particular, strong selective sequential separability in the presence of the Ramsey property may be reduced to a weaker condition on a countable sequentially dense subset. Additionally, ?- and ?-covering properties on X are shown to be equivalent to corresponding sequential properties on Cp(X). A strengthening of the Ramsey property is also introduced, which is still equivalent to ?2 and ?4 in the context of Cp(X).

Equations in oligomorphic clones and the constraint satisfaction problem for ω-categorical structures

There exist two conjectures for constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) of reducts of finitely bounded homogeneous structures: the first one states that tractability of the CSP of such a structure is, when the structure is a model-complete core, equivalent to its polymorphism clone satisfying a certain nontrivial linear identity modulo outer embeddings. The second conjecture, challenging the approach via model-complete cores by reflections, states that tractability is equivalent to the linear identities (without outer embeddings) satisfied by its polymorphisms clone, together with the natural uniformity on it, being nontrivial. We prove that the identities satisfied in the polymorphism clone of a structure allow for conclusions about the orbit growth of its automorphism group, and apply this to show that the two conjectures are equivalent. We contrast this with a counterexample showing that [Formula: see text]-categoricity alone is insufficient to imply the equivalence of the two conditions above in a model-complete core. Taking another approach, we then show how the Ramsey property of a homogeneous structure can be utilized for obtaining a similar equivalence under different conditions. We then prove that any polymorphism of sufficiently large arity which is totally symmetric modulo outer embeddings of a finitely bounded structure can be turned into a nontrivial system of linear identities, and obtain nontrivial linear identities for all tractable cases of reducts of the rational order, the random graph, and the random poset. Finally, we provide a new and short proof, in the language of monoids, of the theorem stating that every [Formula: see text]-categorical structure is homomorphically equivalent to a model-complete core.

The Ramsey property implies no mad families

We show that if all collections of infinite subsets of N have the Ramsey property, then there are no infinite maximal almost disjoint (mad) families. The implication is proved in Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with only weak choice principles. This gives a positive solution to a long-standing problem that goes back to Mathias [A. R. D. Mathias, Ann. Math. Logic 12, 59–111 (1977)]. The proof exploits an idea which has its natural roots in ergodic theory, topological dynamics, and invariant descriptive set theory: We use that a certain function associated to a purported mad family is invariant under the equivalence relation E0 and thus is constant on a “large” set. Furthermore, we announce a number of additional results about mad families relative to more complicated Borel ideals.

A dual Ramsey theorem for finite ordered oriented graphs

In contrast to the abundance of “direct” Ramsey results for classes of finite structures (such as finite ordered graphs, finite ordered metric spaces and finite posets with a linear extension), in only a handful of cases we have a meaningful dual Ramsey result. In this paper we prove a dual Ramsey theorem for finite ordered oriented graphs. Instead of embeddings, which are crucial for “direct” Ramsey results, we consider a special class of surjective homomorphisms between finite ordered oriented graphs. Since the setting we are interested in involves both structures and morphisms, all our results are spelled out using the reinterpretation of the (dual) Ramsey property in the language of category theory.