Chromatic Extremal Thresholds and the Multipartite $K_4$-Free Problem

Abstract

For positive integers $n,r,t$, let $\delta(n,r,t)$ denote the maximum possible minimum degree of a balanced $r$-partite graph with parts of size $n$ and chromatic number at most $t$. Lo, Treglown and Zhao established a general upper bound for this parameter and used it, together with explicit constructions, to determine the corresponding multipartite clique threshold up to an additive constant in a broad parameter range. I determine the chromatic parameter throughout the range $r=mt-a$, $m\ge2$, $t\ge3$, $2\le a\le \min\{m,t-1\}$. The answer differs from the Lo--Treglown--Zhao upper bound by at most one. I give an explicit arithmetic criterion deciding when this one-unit correction occurs. The proof reduces the problem to an integer matrix extremum. In the boundary case, equality forces the supports of all mixed rows to form a spanning star, after which the only remaining obstruction is a divisibility condition. Combining this formula with the Andrasfai--Erdos--Sos theorem sharpens the known equality range for $f(n,r,t+1)=\delta(n,r,t)$. In particular, for $t=3$ it removes the remaining size restrictions at $r=10$ and $r=13$. Together with the $r=7$ result in arXiv:2609.19177, the classical $r=4$ case, and the known congruence classes, this gives a formula for the multipartite $K_4$-free problem for every admissible $r\ge4$ and every $n\ge1$.