On the stochastic independence properties of hard-core distributions

A probability measurep on the set of matchings in a graph (or, more generally 2-bounded hypergraph) ishard-core if for some : [0,), the probabilityp(M) ofM is proportional to. We show that such distributions enjoy substantial approximate stochastic independence properties. This is based on showing that, withM chosen according to the hard-core distributionp, MP () the matching polytope of , and >0, if the vector ofmarginals, (Pr(AM):A an edge of ), is in (1–) MP (), then the weights (A) are bounded by someA(). This eventually implies, for example, that under the same assumption, with fixed, as the distance betweenA, B tends to infinity.Thought to be of independent interest, our results have already been applied in the resolutions of several questions involving asymptotic behaviour of graphs and hypergraphs (see [14, 16], [11]–[13]).Supported in part by NSFThis work forms part of the author's doctoral dissertation [16]; see also [17]. The author gratefully acknowledges NSERC for partial support in the form of a 1967 Science and Engineering Scholarship.