Countable sparse random graphs

For each irrational a, 0<a<1, a particular countable graph G is defined which mirrors the asymptotic behavior of the random graph G(n, p) with edge probability p = n^?a.     

Injective colorings of sparse graphs

Let denote the maximum average degree (over all subgraphs) of G and let χ_i(G) denote the injective chromatic number of G. We prove that if , then χ_i(G)≤Δ(G)+1; and if , then χ_i(G)=Δ(G). Suppose that G is a planar graph with girth g(G) and Δ(G)≥4. We prove that if g(G)≥9, then χ_i(G)≤Δ(G)+1; similarly, if g(G)≥13, then χ_i(G)=Δ(G).     

Right-convergence of sparse random graphs

The paper is devoted to the problem of establishing right-convergence of sparse random graphs. This concerns the convergence of the logarithm of number of homomorphisms from graphs or hyper-graphs \(\mathbb{G }_N, N\ge 1\) to some target graph \(W\) . The theory of dense graph convergence, including random dense graphs, is now well understood (Borgs et al. in Ann Math 176:151–219, 2012; Borgs et al. in Adv Math 219:1801–1851, 2008; Chatterjee and Varadhan in Eur J Comb 32:1000–1017, 2011; Lovász and Szegedy in J Comb Theory Ser B 96:933–957, 2006), but its counterpart for sparse random graphs presents some fundamental difficulties. Phrased in the statistical physics terminology, the issue is the existence of the limits of appropriately normalized log-partition functions, also known as free energy limits, for the Gibbs distribution associated with \(W\) . In this paper we prove that the sequence of sparse Erdös-Rényi graphs is right-converging when the tensor product associated with the target graph \(W\) satisfies a certain convexity property. We treat the case of discrete and continuous target graphs \(W\) . The latter case allows us to prove a special case of Talagrand’s recent conjecture [more accurately stated as level III Research Problem 6.7.2 in his recent book (Talagrand in Mean Field Models for Spin Glasses: Volume I: Basic examples. Springer, Berlin, 2010)], concerning the existence of the limit of the measure of a set obtained from \(\mathbb{R }^N\) by intersecting it with linearly in \(N\) many subsets, generated according to some common probability law. Our proof is based on the interpolation technique, introduced first by Guerra and Toninelli (Commun Math Phys 230:71–79, 2002) and developed further in (Abbe and Montanari in On the concentration of the number of solutions of random satisfiability formulas, 2013; Bayati et al. in Ann Probab Conference version in Proceedings of 42nd Ann. Symposium on the Theory of Computing (STOC), 2010; Contucci et al. in Antiferromagnetic Potts model on the Erdös-Rényi random graph, 2011; Franz and Leone in J Stat Phys 111(3/4):535–564, 2003; Franz et al. in J Phys A Math Gen 36:10967–10985, 2003; Montanari in IEEE Trans Inf Theory 51(9):3221–3246, 2005; Panchenko and Talagrand in Probab Theory Relat Fields 130:312–336, 2004). Specifically, Bayati et al. (Ann Probab Conference version in Proceedings of 42nd Ann. Symposium on the Theory of Computing (STOC), 2010) establishes the right-convergence property for Erdös-Rényi graphs for some special cases of \(W\) . In this paper most of the results in Bayati et al. (Ann Probab Conference version in Proceedings of 42nd Ann. Symposium on the Theory of Computing (STOC), 2010) follow as a special case of our main theorem.     

Linear choosability of sparse graphs

A linear coloring is a proper coloring such that each pair of color classes induces a union of disjoint paths. We study the linear list chromatic number, denoted , of sparse graphs. The maximum average degree of a graph G, denoted mad(G), is the maximum of the average degrees of all subgraphs of G. It is clear that any graph G with maximum degree Δ(G) satisfies . In this paper, we prove the following results: (1) if and Δ(G)≥3, then , and we give an infinite family of examples to show that this result is best possible; (2) if and Δ(G)≥9, then , and we give an infinite family of examples to show that the bound on cannot be increased in general; (3) if G is planar and has girth at least 5, then .     

Disjoint paths in sparse graphs

We generalize all the results obtained for maximum integer multiflow and minimum multicut problems in trees by Garg, Vazirani and Yannakakis [N. Garg, V.V. Vazirani, M. Yannakakis, Primal-dual approximation algorithms for integral flow and multicut in trees, Algorithmica 18 (1997) 3–20] to graphs with a fixed cyclomatic number, while this cannot be achieved for other classical generalizations of trees. We also introduce thek-edge-outerplanar graphs, a class of planar graphs with arbitrary (but bounded) tree-width that generalizes the cacti, and show that the integrality gap of the maximum edge-disjoint paths problem is bounded in these graphs.     

Induced trees in sparse random graphs

The random graphG(n, p) onn vertices with edge probabilityp = c/n contains an induced tree of order _c n where _c > 0 forc > 1. This proves a conjecture of Erdös and Palka.     

Pebble game algorithms and sparse graphs

A multi-graph G on n vertices is (k,?)-sparse if every subset of n^′?n vertices spans at most kn^′-? edges. G is tight if, in addition, it has exactly kn-? edges. For integer values k and ?∈[0,2k), we characterize the (k,?)-sparse graphs via a family of simple, elegant and efficient algorithms called the (k,?)-pebble games.     

On sparse spanners of weighted graphs

Given a graphG, a subgraphG' is at-spanner ofG if, for everyu,v V, the distance fromu tov inG' is at mostt times longer than the distance inG. In this paper we give a simple algorithm for constructing sparse spanners for arbitrary weighted graphs. We then apply this algorithm to obtain specific results for planar graphs and Euclidean graphs. We discuss the optimality of our results and present several nearly matching lower bounds.The work of G. Das and D. Joseph was supported by NSF PYI Grant DCR-8402375. The work of D. Dobkin was supported by NSF Grant CCR-8700917. The work of J. Soares was supported by CNPq proc 203039/87.4 (Brazil) and NSF Grant CCR-9014562. This research was accomplished while G. Das was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A preliminary version was presented at the Second Scandinavian Workshop on Algorithm Theory, Bergen, Norway, 1990, under the title Generating Sparse Spanners for Weighted Graphs, and proceedings appear in the series Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag. The preliminary version also appears as Princeton University Technical Report CS-TR-261-90, and as University of Wisconsin-Madison Computer Sciences Technical Report 882.     

Large holes in sparse random graphs

We show that there is a function α(r) such that for each constantr≧3, almost everyr-regular graph onn vertices has a hole (vertex induced cycle) of size at least α(r)n asn→∞. We also show that there is a function β(c) such that forc>0 large enough,G _{n, p} ,p=c/n almost surely has a hole of size at least β(c)n asn→∞.     

Improved induced matchings in sparse graphs

An induced matching in a graph G=(V,E) is a matching M such that (V,M) is an induced subgraph of G. Clearly, among two vertices with the same neighbourhood (called twins) at most one is matched in any induced matching, and if one of them is matched then there is another matching of the same size that matches the other vertex. Motivated by this, Kanj et al. [10] studied induced matchings in twinless graphs. They showed that any twinless planar graph contains an induced matching of size at least and that there are twinless planar graphs that do not contain an induced matching of size greater than . We improve both these bounds to , which is tight up to an additive constant. This implies that the problem of deciding whether a planar graph has an induced matching of size k has a kernel of size at most 28k. We also show for the first time that this problem is fixed parameter tractable for graphs of bounded arboricity.Kanj et al. also presented an algorithm which decides in -time whether an n-vertex planar graph contains an induced matching of size k. Our results improve the time complexity analysis of their algorithm. However, we also show a more efficient -time algorithm. Its main ingredient is a new, O^∗(4^l)-time algorithm for finding a maximum induced matching in a graph of branch width at most l.     

Long paths in sparse random graphs

We consider random graphs withn labelled vertices in which edges are chosen independently and with probabilityc/n. We prove that almost every random graph of this kind contains a path of length ≧(1 −α(c))n where α(c) is an exponentially decreasing function ofc. Dedicated to Tibor Gallai on his seventieth birthday     

Sums and products along sparse graphs

In their seminal paper from 1983, Erdős and Szemerédi showed that any n distinct integers induce either n ^1+ɛ distinct sums of pairs or that many distinct products, and conjectured a lower bound of n ^2−o(1). They further proposed a generalization of this problem, in which the sums and products are taken along the edges of a given graph G on n labeled vertices. They conjectured a version of the sum-product theorem for general graphs that have at least n ^1+ɛ edges.