A Polynomial Ramsey Statement for Bounded VC-dimension

Abstract

A theorem by Ding, Oporowski, Oxley, and Vertigan states that every sufficiently large bipartite graph without twins contains a matching, co-matching, or half-graph of any given size as an induced subgraph. We prove that this Ramsey statement has polynomial dependency assuming bounded VC-dimension of the initial graph, using the recent verification of the Erdős-Hajnal property for graphs of bounded VC-dimension. Since the theorem of Ding et al. plays a role in (finite) model theory, which studies even more restricted structures, we also comment on further refinements of the theorem within this context.

To be published in European Journal of Combinatorics