Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2002 / iii / Paper 9 / 1 / Solution

Write $K_s(t)$ for a balanced complete multipartite blow-up with $s$ classes of size $t$. In the nonvacuous range $0<\epsilon <1/r$, the answer isWe prove both bounds, including the quantitative lower bound.

First, suppose a bipartite graph with parts $A,B$, of sizes $m,N$, has at least $pmN$ edges. For any integer $s\le pm/2$, counting pairs consisting of an $s$-subset of $A$ and a common neighbour in $B$ givesThe inequality follows from discrete convexity: $\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{x+1}{s}\right)-\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{x}{s}\right)=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{x}{s-1}\right)$ is nondecreasing, so balancing integer degrees of vertices minimizes their sum. Consequently some $S$ hasThe product estimate uses $\lfloor pm\rfloor -j\ge pm-s$ for $0\le j<s$. This is a common neighbourhood from bipartite density bound.

We next prove by induction on $q\ge 1$ that, for every fixed $\alpha >0$, a graph $J$ of order $N$ with minimum degree at least $(1-1/q+\alpha )N$ contains $K_{q+1}(\lfloor c\log N\rfloor )$, for some $c=c(q,\alpha )>0$ and all sufficiently large $N$. Impossible minimum-vertex degree parameters need no argument. For $q=1$, take two copies of $V(J)$ with adjacency given by $J$. The preceding count with $p=\alpha$ and $s=\lfloor c\log N\rfloor$, where $c\log (2/\alpha )<1/2$, gives at least $\sqrt{N}$ common neighbours. The selected vertices and their common neighbours are disjoint in $J$, since a vertex is not its own neighbour. Selecting $s$ common neighbours gives $K_2(s)$.

For $q\ge 2$, the minimum degree hypothesis implies the induction hypothesis for $q-1$, for example with excess $1/[q(q-1)]$. Thus $J$ contains $K_q(m)$ with $m=\lfloor a\log N\rfloor$ for a positive constant $a$. Pair the vertices in its classes into $m$ disjoint transversal cliques $C_1,\dots ,C_m$, each of order $q$. By the union bound, every $C_i$ has at leastcommon neighbours. Form an auxiliary bipartite graph between these $m$ cliques and the $N$ vertices, using common-neighbour incidence, and put $p=q\alpha$. Choose $c>0$ small enough that $c<pa/3$ and $c\log (2/p)<1/2$. The count above, with $s=\lfloor c\log N\rfloor$, gives $s$ cliques with at least $\sqrt{N}$ simultaneous common neighbours. Their vertices form $q$ classes of size $s$, and $s$ of those common neighbours form the last class. None of the common neighbours belongs to a selected clique, because that would require a loop. This proves the logarithmic clique blow-up from minimum degree assertion.

To pass from an edge count to minimum degree, put $b=1-1/r+\epsilon$ and $a=b-\epsilon /2$. Repeatedly remove a vertex whose current degree of a vertex is below $a$ times the current order. If the process reaches order $m$, its deleted edges and remaining edges giveThus $(1-a)m^2\ge (\epsilon /2)n^2-O(n)$. In particular, for a fixed sufficiently small $\gamma >0$, the process cannot reach $m=\lfloor \gamma n\rfloor$: the displayed inequality would fail. It stops earlier with a subgraph of order $N\ge \gamma n$ and minimum degree at least $(1-1/r+\epsilon /2)N$. The induction just proved supplies $K_{r+1}(\lfloor c\log N\rfloor )$, hence a lower bound $c^{\prime }\log n$ on $t(r,\epsilon ,n)$. In particular, the guaranteed part size tends to infinity.

For the upper bound, choose a fixed $p$ with $b<p<1$ and take a binomial random graph $G(n,p)$. Its edge count has expectation $p\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{2}\right)$ and variance $p(1-p)\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{2}\right)$. The Chebyshev inequality shows that $e(G)\ge b\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{2}\right)$ with probability tending to one. The expected number of labeled copies of $K_{r+1}(t)$ is at mostFor $t=\lceil C\log n\rceil$ and $C>2/[r\log (1/p)]$, this tends to zero. The Markov inequality therefore shows that with positive probability both the required edge density holds and there is no such copy. This proves $t(r,\epsilon ,n)=O(\log n)$ and completes the random obstruction to larger clique blow-ups argument.

There is a necessary qualification to the density parameter. If $\epsilon =1/r$, the only eligible graph is the complete graph, and $t(r,1/r,n)=\lfloor n/(r+1)\rfloor$. If $\epsilon >1/r$ and $n\ge 2$, there are no eligible simple graphs; the universal assertion is vacuous for every $t$, so the printed maximum has no finite value in that range.