For many years, there have been conducting research (e.g., by Bergelson, Furstenberg, Kojman, Kubiś, Shelah, Szeptycki, Weiss) into sequentially compact spaces that are, in a sense, topological counterparts of some combinatorial theorems, for instance, Ramsey’s theorem for coloring graphs, Hindman’s finite sums theorem, and van der Waerden’s arithmetical progressions theorem. These spaces are defined with the aid of different kinds of convergences: IP-convergence, R-convergence, and ordinary convergence.

The first aim of this paper is to present a unified approach to these various types of convergences and spaces. Then, using this unified approach, we prove some general theorems about existence of the considered spaces and show that all results obtained so far in this subject can be derived from our theorems.

The second aim of this paper is to obtain new results about the specific types of these spaces. For instance, we construct a Hausdorff Hindman space that is not an $\mathcal {I}_{1/n}$-space and a Hausdorff differentially compact space that is not Hindman. Moreover, we compare Ramsey spaces with other types of spaces. For instance, we construct a Ramsey space that is not Hindman and a Hindman space that is not Ramsey.

The last aim of this paper is to provide a characterization that shows when there exists a space of one considered type that is not of the other kind. This characterization is expressed in purely combinatorial manner with the aid of the so-called Katětov order that has been extensively examined for many years so far.

This paper may interest the general audience of mathematicians as the results we obtain are on the intersection of topology, combinatorics, set theory, and number theory.

We study the first-order consequences of Ramsey’s Theorem for k-colourings of n-tuples, for fixed $n, k \ge 2$ , over the relatively weak second-order arithmetic theory $\mathrm {RCA}^*_0$ . Using the Chong–Mourad coding lemma, we show that in a model of $\mathrm {RCA}^*_0$ that does not satisfy $\Sigma ^0_1$ induction, $\mathrm {RT}^n_k$ is equivalent to its relativization to any proper $\Sigma ^0_1$ -definable cut, so its truth value remains unchanged in all extensions of the model with the same first-order universe.

We give a complete axiomatization of the first-order consequences of $\mathrm {RCA}^*_0 + \mathrm {RT}^n_k$ for $n \ge 3$ . We show that they form a non-finitely axiomatizable subtheory of $\mathrm {PA}$ whose $\Pi _3$ fragment coincides with $\mathrm {B} \Sigma _1 + \exp $ and whose $\Pi _{\ell +3}$ fragment for $\ell \ge 1$ lies between $\mathrm {I} \Sigma _\ell \Rightarrow \mathrm {B} \Sigma _{\ell +1}$ and $\mathrm {B} \Sigma _{\ell +1}$ . We also give a complete axiomatization of the first-order consequences of $\mathrm {RCA}^*_0 + \mathrm {RT}^2_k + \neg \mathrm {I} \Sigma _1$ . In general, we show that the first-order consequences of $\mathrm {RCA}^*_0 + \mathrm {RT}^2_k$ form a subtheory of $\mathrm {I} \Sigma _2$ whose $\Pi _3$ fragment coincides with $\mathrm {B} \Sigma _1 + \exp $ and whose $\Pi _4$ fragment is strictly weaker than $\mathrm {B} \Sigma _2$ but not contained in $\mathrm {I} \Sigma _1$ .

Additionally, we consider a principle $\Delta ^0_2$ - $\mathrm {RT}^2_2$ which is defined like $\mathrm {RT}^2_2$ but with both the $2$ -colourings and the solutions allowed to be $\Delta ^0_2$ -sets rather than just sets. We show that the behaviour of $\Delta ^0_2$ - $\mathrm {RT}^2_2$ over $\mathrm {RCA}_0 + \mathrm {B}\Sigma ^0_2$ is in many ways analogous to that of $\mathrm {RT}^2_2$ over $\mathrm {RCA}^*_0$ , and that $\mathrm {RCA}_0 + \mathrm {B} \Sigma ^0_2 + \Delta ^0_2$ - $\mathrm {RT}^2_2$ is $\Pi _4$ - but not $\Pi _5$ -conservative over $\mathrm {B} \Sigma _2$ . However, the statement we use to witness failure of $\Pi _5$ -conservativity is not provable in $\mathrm {RCA}_0 +\mathrm {RT}^2_2$ .

We introduce natural strengthenings of sequential compactness, the r-Ramsey property for each natural number $r\geq 1$ . We prove that metrizable compact spaces are r-Ramsey for all r and give examples of compact spaces that are r-Ramsey but not $(r+1)$ -Ramsey for each $r\geq 1$ (assuming Continuum Hypothesis (CH) for all $r>1$ ). Productivity of the r-Ramsey property is considered.

We investigate bounds in Ramsey’s theorem for relations definable in NIP structures. Applying model-theoretic methods to finitary combinatorics, we generalize a theorem of Bukh and Matousek (Duke Mathematical Journal163(12) (2014), 2243–2270) from the semialgebraic case to arbitrary polynomially bounded $o$-minimal expansions of $\mathbb{R}$, and show that it does not hold in $\mathbb{R}_{\exp }$. This provides a new combinatorial characterization of polynomial boundedness for $o$-minimal structures. We also prove an analog for relations definable in $P$-minimal structures, in particular for the field of the $p$-adics. Generalizing Conlon et al. (Transactions of the American Mathematical Society366(9) (2014), 5043–5065), we show that in distal structures the upper bound for $k$-ary definable relations is given by the exponential tower of height $k-1$.

In this article, we will show that ${\rm{R}}{{\rm{T}}^2} + WK{L_0}$ is a ${\rm{\Pi }}_1^1$-conservative extension of ${\rm{B\Sigma }}_3^0$.

We study the uniform computational content of Ramsey’s theorem in the Weihrauch lattice. Our central results provide information on how Ramsey’s theorem behaves under product, parallelization, and jumps. From these results we can derive a number of important properties of Ramsey’s theorem. For one, the parallelization of Ramsey’s theorem for cardinality n ≥ 1 and an arbitrary finite number of colors k ≥ 2 is equivalent to the n-th jump of weak Kőnig’s lemma. In particular, Ramsey’s theorem for cardinality n ≥ 1 is ${\bf{\Sigma }}_{n + 2}^0$-measurable in the effective Borel hierarchy, but not ${\bf{\Sigma }}_{n + 1}^0$-measurable. Secondly, we obtain interesting lower bounds, for instance the n-th jump of weak Kőnig’s lemma is Weihrauch reducible to (the stable version of) Ramsey’s theorem of cardinality n + 2 for n ≥ 2. We prove that with strictly increasing numbers of colors Ramsey’s theorem forms a strictly increasing chain in the Weihrauch lattice. Our study of jumps also shows that certain uniform variants of Ramsey’s theorem that are indistinguishable from a nonuniform perspective play an important role. For instance, the colored version of Ramsey’s theorem explicitly includes the color of the homogeneous set as output information, and the jump of this problem (but not the uncolored variant) is equivalent to the stable version of Ramsey’s theorem of the next greater cardinality. Finally, we briefly discuss the particular case of Ramsey’s theorem for pairs, and we provide some new separation techniques for problems that involve jumps in this context. In particular, we study uniform results regarding the relation of boundedness and induction problems to Ramsey’s theorem, and we show that there are some significant differences with the nonuniform situation in reverse mathematics.

The purpose is to study the strength of Ramsey’s Theorem for pairs restricted to recursive assignments of k-many colors, with respect to Intuitionistic Heyting Arithmetic. We prove that for every natural number $k \ge 2$, Ramsey’s Theorem for pairs and recursive assignments of k colors is equivalent to the Limited Lesser Principle of Omniscience for ${\rm{\Sigma }}_3^0$ formulas over Heyting Arithmetic. Alternatively, the same theorem over intuitionistic arithmetic is equivalent to: for every recursively enumerable infinite k-ary tree there is some $i < k$ and some branch with infinitely many children of index i.

This paper is a contribution to the growing investigation of strong reducibilities between ${\rm{\Pi }}_2^1$ statements of second-order arithmetic, viewed as an extension of the traditional analysis of reverse mathematics. We answer several questions of Hirschfeldt and Jockusch [13] about Weihrauch (uniform) and strong computable reductions between various combinatorial principles related to Ramsey’s theorem for pairs. Among other results, we establish that the principle $SRT_2^2$ is not Weihrauch or strongly computably reducible to $D_{ < \infty }^2$, and that COH is not Weihrauch reducible to $SRT_{ < \infty }^2$, or strongly computably reducible to $SRT_2^2$. The last result also extends a prior result of Dzhafarov [9]. We introduce a number of new techniques for controlling the combinatorial and computability-theoretic properties of the problems and solutions we construct in our arguments.

We introduce the definability strength of combinatorial principles. In terms of definability strength, a combinatorial principle is strong if solving a corresponding combinatorial problem could help in simplifying the definition of a definable set. We prove that some consequences of Ramsey’s Theorem for colorings of pairs could help in simplifying the definitions of some ${\rm{\Delta }}_2^0$ sets, while some others could not. We also investigate some consequences of Ramsey’s Theorem for colorings of longer tuples. These results of definability strength have some interesting consequences in reverse mathematics, including strengthening of known theorems in a more uniform way and also new theorems.

No natural principle is currently known to be strictly between the arithmetic comprehension axiom (ACA0) and Ramsey’s theorem for pairs ( $RT_2^2$ ) in reverse mathematics. The tree theorem for pairs ( $TT_2^2$ ) is however a good candidate. The tree theorem states that for every finite coloring over tuples of comparable nodes in the full binary tree, there is a monochromatic subtree isomorphic to the full tree. The principle $TT_2^2$ is known to lie between ACA0 and $RT_2^2$ over RCA0, but its exact strength remains open. In this paper, we prove that $RT_2^2$ together with weak König’s lemma (WKL0) does not imply $TT_2^2$ , thereby answering a question of Montálban. This separation is a case in point of the method of Lerman, Solomon and Towsner for designing a computability-theoretic property which discriminates between two statements in reverse mathematics. We therefore put the emphasis on the different steps leading to this separation in order to serve as a tutorial for separating principles in reverse mathematics.

Ramsey’s theorem states that for any coloring of the n-element subsets of ℕ with finitely many colors, there is an infinite set H such that all n-element subsets of H have the same color. The strength of consequences of Ramsey’s theorem has been extensively studied in reverse mathematics and under various reducibilities, namely, computable reducibility and uniform reducibility. Our understanding of the combinatorics of Ramsey’s theorem and its consequences has been greatly improved over the past decades. In this paper, we state some questions which naturally arose during this study. The inability to answer those questions reveals some gaps in our understanding of the combinatorics of Ramsey’s theorem.

Ramsey’s Theorem is naturally connected to the statement “every infinite partially ordered set has either an infinite chain or an infinite anti-chain”. Indeed, it is a well-known result that Ramsey’s Theorem implies the latter principle.

In the book “Consequences of the Axiom of Choice” by P. Howard and J. E. Rubin, it is stated as unknown whether the above implication is reversible, that is whether the principle “every infinite partially ordered set has either an infinite chain or an infinite anti-chain” implies Ramsey’s Theorem. The purpose of this paper is to settle the aforementioned open problem. In particular, we construct a suitable Fraenkel–Mostowski permutation model ${\cal N}$ for ZFA and prove that the above principle for infinite partially ordered sets is true in ${\cal N}$, whereas Ramsey’s Theorem is false in ${\cal N}$. Then, based on the existence of ${\cal N}$ and on results of D. Pincus, we show that there is a model of ZF which satisfies “every infinite partially ordered set has either an infinite chain or an infinite anti-chain” and the negation of Ramsey’s Theorem.

In addition, we prove that Ramsey’s Theorem (hence, the above principle for infinite partially ordered sets) is true in Mostowski’s linearly ordered model, filling the gap of information in the book “Consequences of the Axiom of Choice”.

We characterize the effective content and the proof-theoretic strength of a Ramsey-type theorem for bi-colorings of so-called exactly large sets. An exactly large set is a set $X \subset {\bf{N}}$ such that ${\rm{card}}\left( X \right) = {\rm{min}}\left( X \right) + 1$. The theorem we analyze is as follows. For every infinite subset M of N, for every coloring C of the exactly large subsets of M in two colors, there exists and infinite subset L of M such that C is constant on all exactly large subsets of L. This theorem is essentially due to Pudlák and Rödl and independently to Farmaki. We prove that—over RCA0 —this theorem is equivalent to closure under the ωth Turing jump (i.e., under arithmetical truth). Natural combinatorial theorems at this level of complexity are rare. In terms of Reverse Mathematics we give the first Ramsey-theoretic characterization of ${\rm{ACA}}_0^ +$. Our results give a complete characterization of the theorem from the point of view of Computability Theory and of the Proof Theory of Arithmetic. This nicely extends the current knowledge about the strength of Ramsey’s Theorem. We also show that analogous results hold for a related principle based on the Regressive Ramsey’s Theorem. We conjecture that analogous results hold for larger ordinals.