It has been long--conjectured that the crossing number cr(K_m,n) of the
complete bipartite graph K_m,n equals the Zarankiewicz Number Z(m,n):=
floor((m-1)/2) floor(m/2) floor((n-1)/2) floor(n/2). Another long--standing
conjecture states that the crossing number cr(K_n) of the complete graph K_n
equals Z(n):= floor(n/2) floor((n-1)/2) floor((n-2)/2) floor((n-3)/2)/4. In
this paper we show the following improved bounds on the asymptotic ratios of
these crossing numbers and their conjectured values:
(i) for each fixed m >= 9, lim_{n->infty} cr(K_m,n)/Z(m,n) >= 0.83m/(m-1);
(ii) lim_{n->infty} cr(K_n,n)/Z(n,n) >= 0.83; and
(iii) lim_{n->infty} cr(K_n)/Z(n) >= 0.83.
The previous best known lower bounds were 0.8m/(m-1), 0.8, and 0.8,
respectively. These improved bounds are obtained as a consequence of the new
bound cr(K_{7,n}) >= 2.1796n^2 - 4.5n. To obtain this improved lower bound for
cr(K_{7,n}), we use some elementary topological facts on drawings of K_{2,7} to
set up a quadratic program on 6! variables whose minimum p satisfies
cr(K_{7,n}) >= (p/2)n^2 - 4.5n, and then use state--of--the--art quadratic
optimization techniques combined with a bit of invariant theory of permutation
groups to show that p >= 4.3593.Comment: LaTeX, 18 pages, 2 figure
