The Vertex-Disjoint and Edge-Disjoint Ramsey Numbers of a Set of Graphs

The Ramsey number R(F) of a graph F without isolated vertices is the smallest positive integer n such that every red–blue coloring of Kn produces a subgraph isomorphic to F all of whose edges are colored the same. Let F be a set of graphs without isolated vertices. For a positive integer t, the vertex-disjoint Ramsey number VRt(F) is the smallest positive integer n such that every red–blue coloring of the complete graph Kn of order n results in at least t pairwise vertex-disjoint monochromatic graphs in F; while the edge-disjoint Ramsey number ERt(F) is the smallest positive integer n such that every red–blue coloring of Kn produces at least t pairwise edge-disjoint monochromatic graphs in F. If t=1 and F consists of a single graph F, then VR1(F)=ER1(F)=R(F) is the Ramsey number of the graph F. Thus, the concepts of vertex-disjoint and edge-disjoint Ramsey numbers provide a generalization of the standard Ramsey number. Upper and lower bounds for VRt(F) and ERt(F) are established for sets F of graphs without isolated vertices and the sharpness of these bounds is discussed. The primary goal of this paper is to investigate the values of VRt(F) and ERt(F) for sets F of graphs of size 2 or 3 without isolated vertices. The exact values of VRt(F) are determined for all such sets F and all integers t≥2. The exact values of ERt(F) of certain such sets F with prescribed conditions for all integers t≥2 are determined. For some special sets F of graphs of size 2 or 3 without isolated vertices, the exact values of ERt(F) are determined for 2≤t≤4. Additional results, problems, and conjectures are also presented dealing with these two Ramsey concepts for graphs in general.