Monochromatic balanced components, matchings, and paths in multicolored complete bipartite graphs

Abstract

It is well-known that in every $r$-coloring of the edges of the complete bipartite graph $K_{n,n}$ there is a monochromatic connected component with at least ${2n\over r}$ vertices. It would be interesting to know whether we can additionally require that this large component be balanced; that is, is it true that in every $r$-coloring of $K_{n,n}$ there is a monochromatic component that meets both sides in at least $n/r$ vertices? Over forty years ago, Gy\'arf\'as and Lehel and independently Faudree and Schelp proved that any $2$-colored $K_{n,n}$ contains a monochromatic $P_n$. Very recently, Buci\'c, Letzter and Sudakov proved that every $3$-colored $K_{n,n}$ contains a monochromatic connected matching (a matching whose edges are in the same connected component) of size $\lceil n/3 \rceil$. So the answer is strongly "yes" for $1\leq r\leq 3$. We provide a short proof of (a non-symmetric version of) the original question for $1\leq r\leq 3$; that is, every $r$-coloring of $K_{m,n}$ has a monochromatic component that meets each side in a $1/r$ proportion of its part size. Then, somewhat surprisingly, we show that the answer to the question is "no" for all $r\ge 4$. For instance, there are $4$-colorings of $K_{n,n}$ where the largest balanced monochromatic component has $n/5$ vertices in both partite classes (instead of $n/4$). Our constructions are based on lower bounds for the $r$-color bipartite Ramsey number of $P_4$, denoted $f(r)$, which is the smallest integer $\ell$ such that in every $r$-coloring of the edges of $K_{\ell,\ell}$ there is a monochromatic path on four vertices. Furthermore, combined with earlier results, we determine $f(r)$ for every value of $r$.