Asymptotic upper bounds for Ramsey functions (Q5936097)

A result of \textit{J. B. Shearer} [Discrete Math. 46, 83-87 (1983; Zbl 0516.05053)] on the independence number of a triangle-free graph \(G\) with \(N\) vertices and average degree \(d\) is generalized in terms of the average degree of any neighborhood induced subgraph of \(G\). Based on this result new asymptotic upper bounds for Ramsey functions are derived. In particular it is shown that for any fixed \(k \geq 1\) the classical Ramsey numbers \(r(k,n)\) satisfy \(r(k,n) \leq (1+o(1)) n^{k-1} / (\log n)^{k-2}\) as \(n \rightarrow \infty\), which improves previous known bounds for \(k \geq 4\).