Multicolour Ramsey numbers of paths and even cycles

We prove new upper bounds on the multicolour Ramsey numbers of paths and even cycles. It is well known that $(k-1)n+o(n)leq R_k(P_n)leq R_k(C_n)leq kn+o(n)$. The upper bound was recently improved by Sarkozy who showed that $R_k(C_n)leqleft(k-frac{k}{16k^3+1}right)n+o(n)$. Here we show $R_k(C_n) leq (k-frac14)n +o(n)$, obtaining the first improvement to the coefficient of the linear term by an absolute constant.