Avoiding Monochromatic Sequences With Special Gaps

Abstract

For $S$ a set of positive integers, and $k$ and $r$ fixed positive integers, denote by $f(S,k;r)$ the least positive integer $n$ (if it exists) such that within every $r$-coloring of $\{1,2,...,n\}$ there must be a monochromatic sequence $\{x_1,x_2,...,x_k\}$ with $x_i-x_{i-1}\in S$ for $2\le i\le k$. We consider the existence of $f(S,k;r)$ for various choices of $S$, as well as upper and lower bounds on this function. In particular, we show that this function exists for all $k$ if $S$ is an odd translate of the set of primes and $r=2$.

16 pages