Charlie Yu

Ramsey number $R(4, 20) \ge 252$

We exhibit two explicit circulant graphs of prime order $251$ that are $K_4$-free and have independence number $19$. Consequently \[R(4,20)\ge 252.\] These improve the bound $R(4,20)\ge 237$ given by Nagda, Raghavan, Thakurta and the long standing bound $R(4,21)\ge 242$ recorded in Radziszowski's dynamic survey. The graphs are $32$-subsets of a pair of undirected quintic cyclotomic classes modulo $251$, in analogy with the quartic-residue circulant of order $313$ used for $R(4,22)$. Clique-freeness is elementary; the independence-number claims are certified by a bitset branch-and-bound on the $186$-vertex residual of a vertex.