Some upper bounds on ordinal-valued Ramsey numbers for colourings of pairs (Q2193942)

The notion of an \(\alpha\)-large finite subset of the natural numbers is defined recursively as follow. Let \(\alpha<\omega^\omega\) and write in Cantor normal form \(\alpha=\sum_{i<k}\omega^{n_i}\) where each \(n_i\in\mathbb{N}\) and \(n_0\geqslant\dots\geqslant n_{k-1}\) (under the convention \(\omega^0=1\)). Set \(\beta = \sum_{i<k-1} \omega^{n_i}\). A finite subset \(X\) is called \(\alpha\)-large if \(X\setminus\{\min X\}\) is \(\beta\)-large whenever \(\alpha=\beta+1\) (equivalently \(n_{k-1}=0\)) and \(X\setminus\{\min X\}\) is \((\beta+\sum_{i<\min X}\omega^{n_{k-1}-1})\)-large otherwise. Moreover, for every \(\alpha,\beta<\omega^\omega\) and every pair \(k\), \(r\) of positive integers, denote by \(\alpha\to(\beta)_r^k\) the statement: For every \(\alpha\)-large subset \(X\) of \(\mathbb{N}\) and every coloring with \(r\) colors of the set \([X]^k\) of the \(k\)-element subsets of \(X\) there exists a \(\beta\)-large subset \(Y\) of \(X\) such that the set \([Y]^k\) is monochromatic. The main result of the paper is that the statement \(\omega^{300n}\to(\omega^{n})^2_2\) holds true which improves the statement \(\omega^{\omega^n2}\to(\omega^{n})^2_2\) due to \textit{T. Bigorajska} and \textit{H. Kotlarski} [Fundam. Math. 175, No. 2, 119--125 (2002; Zbl 1010.05006)]. As the authors mention, it is nearly optimal, due to a result of \textit{H. Kotlarski} et al. [Ann. Pure Appl. Logic 147, No. 3, 113--126 (2007; Zbl 1123.03043)]. The paper also contains a simplified proof of \(\omega^{n+4}\to(\omega)^2_n\) which has been proven earlier by \textit{J. Ketonen} and \textit{R. Solovay} [Ann. Math. (2) 113, 267--314 (1981; Zbl 0494.03027)]. The last section of the paper analyses the relevance of the main result to logic.