Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2023
Which patterns must a two-colouring of $K_n$ contain if each vertex has at least
$\varepsilon n$ red and
$\varepsilon n$ blue neighbours? We show that when
$\varepsilon \gt 1/4$,
$K_n$ must contain a complete subgraph on
$\Omega (\log n)$ vertices where one of the colours forms a balanced complete bipartite graph.
When $\varepsilon \leq 1/4$, this statement is no longer true, as evidenced by the following colouring
$\chi$ of
$K_n$. Divide the vertex set into
$4$ parts nearly equal in size as
$V_1,V_2,V_3, V_4$, and let the blue colour class consist of the edges between
$(V_1,V_2)$,
$(V_2,V_3)$,
$(V_3,V_4)$, and the edges contained inside
$V_2$ and inside
$V_3$. Surprisingly, we find that this obstruction is unique in the following sense. Any two-colouring of
$K_n$ in which each vertex has at least
$\varepsilon n$ red and
$\varepsilon n$ blue neighbours (with
$\varepsilon \gt 0$) contains a vertex set
$S$ of order
$\Omega _{\varepsilon }(\log n)$ on which one colour class forms a balanced complete bipartite graph, or which has the same colouring as
$\chi$.
Research supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme [MSCA GA No 101038085].