We initiate the study of the proof complexity of propositional encoding of (weak cases of) concrete independence results. In particular we study the proof complexity of Paris-Harrington's Large Ramsey Theorem. We prove a conditional lower bound in Resolution and a quasipolynomial upper bound in bounded-depth Frege.

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Ramsey Theorem is a cornerstone of combinatorics and logic. In its
simplest formulation it says that there is a function $r$ such that
any simple graph with $r(k,s)$ vertices contains either a clique of
size $k$ or an independent set of size $s$. We study the complexity
of proving upper ... more >>>

We say that a graph with $n$ vertices is $c$-Ramsey if it does not contain either a clique or an independent set of size $c \log n$. We define a CNF formula which expresses this property for a graph $G$. We show a superpolynomial lower bound on the length of ... more >>>