Size of monochromatic double stars in edge colorings

Andrs Gyrfs a a a
Computer and Automation Research Institute Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest, P.O. Box 63 Budapest, Hungary, H-1518

Gbor N. Srkzy a a o
Computer Science Department Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester, MA, USA 01609 gsarkozy@cs.wpi.edu and Computer and Automation Research Institute Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest, P.O. Box 63 Budapest, Hungary, H-1518

August 23, 2007

Abstract It is known that for r 2, there is a monochromatic component of size n at least r1 in every r-coloring of the edges of Kn , the complete graph on n vertices (the result is sharp for innitely many r and n). Here we show that one can say also something about the shape of the large component: for r 3 there n is a monochromatic double star of size at least r1 in every r-coloring of the edges of Kn . We also show that the size of the largest monochromatic double star present in any 2-coloring of Kn is asymptotic to 3n . We also consider the 4 variation when r-colorings are replaced by local r-colorings.

An easy exercise - in fact a note of Paul Erds - is that in every 2-coloring of the o edges of Kn there is a monochromatic connected subgraph on n vertices. For three

Research supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMS-0456401.

colors the analogue problem was solved in [9],[1]. The problem was rediscovered in [3]. The generalization of this for r colors is proved by the rst author [12]: if the edges of Kn are colored with r colors then there is a monochromatic component with n at least r1 vertices. Recently a very simple proof of this is obtained by Liu, Morris and Prince [13]. We shall use their method (actually it also appeared earlier in [14]) in our main result (Theorem 1) which strengthens that for r 3: the monochromatic n component of size at least r1 can be specied as a double star. A double star is the tree obtained from two vertex disjoint stars by connecting their centers. The result is sharp if r 1 is a prime power and r 1 divides n. (A generalization of a dierent kind has been obtained by Fredi [7].) u The case r = 2 is settled in Theorem 2, the largest monochromatic double star present in any 2-coloring of the edges of Kn is asymptotic to 3n . This follows easily 4 from the approach of [6] (in fact, Theorem 2 is implicitly in [6]). Although spanning monochromatic double stars do not always exist, there are certain monochromatic spanning trees in any 2-colorings of Kn . Spanning trees of radius two and spanning trees having only at most one vertex of degree at least three can be found monochromatically in every 2-coloring of Kn as shown in [4]. Also, Burr proved ([2]) that there is a monochromatic spanning broom in every 2-coloring of Kn (see also [10]). In some recent results connectivity is replaced by k-connectivity ([5], [13]) and the size of the largest monochromatic component for local r-colorings is also determined in [11]. Theorem 3 is the local variant of Theorem 1, it strengthens the main result of [11].
n Theorem 1. For r 3 there is a monochromatic double star with at least r1 vertices in any r-coloring of the edges of Kn . There is equality if an ane plane of order r 1 exists and (r 1)2 divides n.

Proof. To show equality in the claimed case, consider the points of an ane plane of order r 1 as the vertices of a complete graph and color each pair of vertices by the parallel class going through them. Then replace each point i by a k-element set Ai so that the Ai -s are pairwise disjoint. The coloring is extended naturally with the freedom that the edges within Ai -s are colored arbitrarily. The result is an r-colored Kn where n = k(r 1)2 and the largest monochromatic connected subgraph has n k(r 1) = r1 vertices. This example is from [12] and [7]. We show the existence of a large monochromatic double star in an r-colored Kn . Let p be a vertex of Kn and let Ai denote the set of vertices adjacent to p in color n i (i [r]). We may assume that any vertex a Ai sends less than r1 |Ai | 1 edges of color i to j=i Aj otherwise we have the required monochromatic double star in color i. Consider the r-partite graph G with partite classes Ai obtained by the removal of edges of color i going out of Ai (for all i [r]). Let Ei denote the set of 2

edges of G incident to some vertex of Ai . From the previous remark we get |Ei | > |Ai |(n 1 |Ai | ( n(r 2) n |Ai | 1)) = |Ai | . r1 r1 (1)

Dene G(i, j) as the bipartite subgraph of G spanned by [Ai , Aj ]. Let dk (v, H) denote the degree of v in color k in the graph H. For any edge xy of color k, x Ai , y Aj , set cijk (x, y) = dk (x, G(i, j)) + dk (y, G(i, j)). Notice that there is a double star of color k with cijk (x, y) vertices in the bipartite graph G(i, j). Using the Cauchy-Schwartz inequality and (1) we estimate the sum of cijk (x, y) over all edges of all bipartite graphs G(i, j):
r

cijk (x, y) =
1i<jr xyE(G(i,j)) r i=1 xAi k=i 2 r

d2 (x, G) k
r i=1

i=1

(r 1)|Ai |

xAi

dk (x, G) (r 1)|Ai |
k=i

n(r 2) r 2n|E(G)|(r 2) |Ei | = . 2 (r 1) i=1 (r 1)2 2n(r 2) n 2 (r 1) r1

|Ei |2 = > i=1 (r 1)|Ai |

|Ei ||Ai |

n(r2) r1

(r 1)|Ai |

Since altogether we have |E(G)| cijk (x, y)-terms, for some k [r], x Ai , y Aj , cijk (x, y) > for r 3. 2

Theorem 2. The largest monochromatic double star present in any 2-coloring of Kn is asymptotic to 3n . 4 Proof. Suppose that p is a vertex of a 2-colored complete graph Kn . Let Ar (Ab ) denote the vertices adjacent in red (blue) to p. A key result of [6] says that for any positive integer t and for any (0, 1), either t vertices of Ar dominates in red all but at most t+1 (n 1) vertices of Ab or t vertices of Ab dominates in blue all but at most t+1 (n 1) vertices of Ar . Applying this with t = 1 and = 1 , we get the 2 required monochromatic double star. To get a 2-coloring where the largest monochromatic double star is asymptotic to 3n one can consider random graphs or Paley graphs. In fact, Theorem 2 in [6] proves 4 the existence of such a 2-coloring by the random method. 2 3

Finally we show how to apply the proof method of Theorem 1 to determine the largest monochromatic double star in local r-colorings of Kn . An edge coloring of Kn is a local r-coloring if at most r colors are present on the set of edges incident to any vertex of Kn . The following result strengthens a result (Theorem 1.) obtained in [11].
rn Theorem 3. For r 2 there is a monochromatic double star with at least r2 r+1 vertices in any local r-coloring of the edges of Kn . There is equality if a nite projective plane of order r 1 exists and r2 r + 1 divides n.

Proof. To show equality in the claimed case, consider the points of a nite projective plane of order r 1 as the vertices of a complete graph and color each pair of vertices by the line going through them. Then replace each vertex i by a k-element set Ai so that the Ai -s are pairwise disjoint. The coloring is extended naturally with the proviso that the edges within Ai -s are colored with some color among the colors that were incident to vertex i. The result is a locally r-colored Kn where n = k(r2 r + 1) nr and the largest monochromatic connected subgraph has kr = r2 r+1 vertices. The rest of the proof follows the proof of Theorem 1 with obvious modications. We use the same notation. Now the inequality (1) is replaced by |Ei | > |Ai |(n 1 |Ai | ( nr n(r 1)2 |Ai | 1)) = |Ai | 2 r2 r + 1 r r+1 (2)

otherwise we have the claimed monochromatic double star. Using I(x) for the set of colors appearing on the edges incident to vertex x, the argument of the proof of Theorem 1 is followed:
r

cijk (x, y) =
1i<jr xyE(G(i,j)) r xAi k{I(x)\i} dk (x, G) (r 1)|Ai | i=1 xAi k{I(x)\i} 2 r

d2 (x, G) k
r i=1

i=1

(r1)|Ai |

n(r 1) r 2n|E(G)|(r 1) = 2 |Ei | = . r r + 1 i=1 r2 r + 1 rn 2n(r 1) 2 2r+1 r r r+1

|Ei |2 = > i=1 (r 1)|Ai |

|Ei ||Ai |

(r 1)|Ai |

n(r1)2 r 2 r+1

As before, we have |E(G)| terms so for some k [r], x Ai , y Aj , cijk (x, y) > for r 2. 2

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