A linear upper bound in zero-sum Ramsey theory (Q1335521)

Let \(K^ r_ N\) denote the complete \(r\)-uniform hypergraph on an \(N\)- set and let \(A\) denote a group of order \(k\) written additively. By an \(A\)-coloring of \(K^ r_ N\) we mean a mapping \(c:E (K^ r_ N) \to A\). Let \(H\) be a subhypergraph of \(K^ r_ N\), we say that \(H\) is a zero-sum subhypergraph if the sum (in \(A)\) of the colors assigned to the edges of \(H\) is zero. Now let \(H\) be an arbitrary \(r\)-uniform hypergraph. The zero-sum Ramsey number \(R(H,A)\) is defined to be the smallest integer \(N\) so that every \(A\)-coloring of \(K^ r_ N\) admits a zero-sum copy of \(H\). The main result of this paper is: Theorem. Let \(n,r\), and \(k\) be positive integers so that \(k | {n \choose r}\) and let \(A\) be a group of order \(k\). Then there exists a constant \(c(k,r)\) so that \(R(K^ r_ n,A) \leq n + c(k,r)\).