A note on the multicolor size-Ramsey numbers of connected graphs

Abstract: The $r$-color size-Ramsey number of a graph $H$, denoted $\hat{R}r(H)$ is the smallest number of edges in a graph $G$ having the property that every $r$-coloring of the edges of $G$ contains a monochromatic copy of $H$. Krivelevich proved that $\hat{R}_r(P{m+1})=\Omega(r^2m)$ where $P_{m+1}$ is the path on $m$ edges. He explains that his proof actually applies to any connected graph $H$ with $m$ edges and vertex cover number larger than $\sqrt{m}$. He also notes that some restriction on the vertex cover number is necessary since the star with $m$ edges, $K_{1,m}$, has vertex cover number 1 and satisfies $\hat{R}r(K{1,m})=r(m-1)+1$. We prove that the star is actually the only exception; that is, $\hat{R}_r(H)=\Omega(r^2m)$ for every non-star connected graph $H$ with $m$ edges. We also prove a strengthening of this result for trees. It follows from results of Beck and Dellamonica that $\hat{R}_2(T)=\Theta(\beta(T))$ for every tree $T$ with bipartition ${V_1, V_2}$ and $\beta(T)=|V_1|\max{d(v):v\in V_1}+|V_2|\max{d(v):v\in V_2}$. We prove that $\hat{R}_r(T)=\Omega(r^2\beta(T))$ for every tree $T$, again with the exception of the star. Additionally, we prove that for a certain class of trees $\mathcal{T}$ (which includes all trees of radius 2 and all non-star trees with linear maximum degree) we have $\hat{R}_r(T)=\Theta(r^2\beta(T))$ for all $T\in \mathcal{T}$.