The Ramsey theory of the universal homogeneous triangle-free graph

Abstract

The universal homogeneous triangle-free graph, constructed by Henson [A family of countable homogeneous graphs, Pacific J. Math. 38(1) (1971) 69–83] and denoted [Formula: see text], is the triangle-free analogue of the Rado graph. While the Ramsey theory of the Rado graph has been completely established, beginning with Erdős–Hajnal–Posá [Strong embeddings of graphs into coloured graphs, in Infinite and Finite Sets. Vol.[Formula: see text] , eds. A. Hajnal, R. Rado and V. Sós, Colloquia Mathematica Societatis János Bolyai, Vol. 10 (North-Holland, 1973), pp. 585–595] and culminating in work of Sauer [Coloring subgraphs of the Rado graph, Combinatorica 26(2) (2006) 231–253] and Laflamme–Sauer–Vuksanovic [Canonical partitions of universal structures, Combinatorica 26(2) (2006) 183–205], the Ramsey theory of [Formula: see text] had only progressed to bounds for vertex colorings [P. Komjáth and V. Rödl, Coloring of universal graphs, Graphs Combin. 2(1) (1986) 55–60] and edge colorings [N. Sauer, Edge partitions of the countable triangle free homogenous graph, Discrete Math. 185(1–3) (1998) 137–181]. This was due to a lack of broadscale techniques. We solve this problem in general: For each finite triangle-free graph [Formula: see text], there is a finite number [Formula: see text] such that for any coloring of all copies of [Formula: see text] in [Formula: see text] into finitely many colors, there is a subgraph of [Formula: see text] which is again universal homogeneous triangle-free in which the coloring takes no more than [Formula: see text] colors. This is the first such result for a homogeneous structure omitting copies of some nontrivial finite structure. The proof entails developments of new broadscale techniques, including a flexible method for constructing trees which code [Formula: see text] and the development of their Ramsey theory.