We prove that any bounded degree regular graph with sufficiently strong spectral expansion contains an induced path of linear length. This is the first such result for expanders, strengthening an analogous result in the random setting by Draganić, Glock, and Krivelevich. More generally, we find long induced paths in sparse graphs that satisfy a mild upper-uniformity edge-distribution condition.

We study the problem of identifying a small number $k\sim n^\theta$, $0\lt \theta \lt 1$, of infected individuals within a large population of size $n$ by testing groups of individuals simultaneously. All tests are conducted concurrently. The goal is to minimise the total number of tests required. In this paper, we make the (realistic) assumption that tests are noisy, that is, that a group that contains an infected individual may return a negative test result or one that does not contain an infected individual may return a positive test result with a certain probability. The noise need not be symmetric. We develop an algorithm called SPARC that correctly identifies the set of infected individuals up to $o(k)$ errors with high probability with the asymptotically minimum number of tests. Additionally, we develop an algorithm called SPEX that exactly identifies the set of infected individuals w.h.p. with a number of tests that match the information-theoretic lower bound for the constant column design, a powerful and well-studied test design.

Given an $n\times n$ symmetric matrix $W\in [0,1]^{[n]\times [n]}$, let ${\mathcal G}(n,W)$ be the random graph obtained by independently including each edge $jk\in \binom{[n]}{2}$ with probability $W_{jk}=W_{kj}$. Given a degree sequence $\textbf{d}=(d_1,\ldots, d_n)$, let ${\mathcal G}(n,\textbf{d})$ denote a uniformly random graph with degree sequence $\textbf{d}$. We couple ${\mathcal G}(n,W)$ and ${\mathcal G}(n,\textbf{d})$ together so that asymptotically almost surely ${\mathcal G}(n,W)$ is a subgraph of ${\mathcal G}(n,\textbf{d})$, where $W$ is some function of $\textbf{d}$. Let $\Delta (\textbf{d})$ denote the maximum degree in $\textbf{d}$. Our coupling result is optimal when $\Delta (\textbf{d})^2\ll \|\textbf{d}\|_1$, that is, $W_{ij}$ is asymptotic to ${\mathbb P}(ij\in{\mathcal G}(n,\textbf{d}))$ for every $i,j\in [n]$. We also have coupling results for $\textbf{d}$ that are not constrained by the condition $\Delta (\textbf{d})^2\ll \|\textbf{d}\|_1$. For such $\textbf{d}$ our coupling result is still close to optimal, in the sense that $W_{ij}$ is asymptotic to ${\mathbb P}(ij\in{\mathcal G}(n,\textbf{d}))$ for most pairs $ij\in \binom{[n]}{2}$.

We consider the community detection problem in sparse random hypergraphs under the non-uniform hypergraph stochastic block model (HSBM), a general model of random networks with community structure and higher-order interactions. When the random hypergraph has bounded expected degrees, we provide a spectral algorithm that outputs a partition with at least a $\gamma$ fraction of the vertices classified correctly, where $\gamma \in (0.5,1)$ depends on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the model. When the SNR grows slowly as the number of vertices goes to infinity, our algorithm achieves weak consistency, which improves the previous results in Ghoshdastidar and Dukkipati ((2017) Ann. Stat. 45(1) 289–315.) for non-uniform HSBMs.

Our spectral algorithm consists of three major steps: (1) Hyperedge selection: select hyperedges of certain sizes to provide the maximal signal-to-noise ratio for the induced sub-hypergraph; (2) Spectral partition: construct a regularised adjacency matrix and obtain an approximate partition based on singular vectors; (3) Correction and merging: incorporate the hyperedge information from adjacency tensors to upgrade the error rate guarantee. The theoretical analysis of our algorithm relies on the concentration and regularisation of the adjacency matrix for sparse non-uniform random hypergraphs, which can be of independent interest.

We determine the order of the k-core in a large class of dense graph sequences. Let $G_n$ be a sequence of undirected, n-vertex graphs with edge weights $\{a^n_{i,j}\}_{i,j \in [n]}$ that converges to a graphon $W\colon[0,1]^2 \to [0,+\infty)$ in the cut metric. Keeping an edge (i,j) of $G_n$ with probability ${a^n_{i,j}}/{n}$ independently, we obtain a sequence of random graphs $G_n({1}/{n})$. Using a branching process and the theory of dense graph limits, under mild assumptions we obtain the order of the k-core of random graphs $G_n({1}/{n})$. Our result can also be used to obtain the threshold of appearance of a k-core of order n.

Given a family of graphs $\mathcal{F}$ and an integer $r$, we say that a graph is $r$-Ramsey for $\mathcal{F}$ if any $r$-colouring of its edges admits a monochromatic copy of a graph from $\mathcal{F}$. The threshold for the classic Ramsey property, where $\mathcal{F}$ consists of one graph, in the binomial random graph was located in the celebrated work of Rödl and Ruciński.

In this paper, we offer a twofold generalisation to the Rödl–Ruciński theorem. First, we show that the list-colouring version of the property has the same threshold. Second, we extend this result to finite families $\mathcal{F}$, where the threshold statements might also diverge. This also confirms further special cases of the Kohayakawa–Kreuter conjecture. Along the way, we supply a short(-ish), self-contained proof of the $0$-statement of the Rödl–Ruciński theorem.

We propose a method for cutting down a random recursive tree that focuses on its higher-degree vertices. Enumerate the vertices of a random recursive tree of size n according to the decreasing order of their degrees; namely, let $(v^{(i)})_{i=1}^{n}$ be such that $\deg(v^{(1)}) \geq \cdots \geq \deg (v^{(n)})$. The targeted vertex-cutting process is performed by sequentially removing vertices $v^{(1)}, v^{(2)}, \ldots, v^{(n)}$ and keeping only the subtree containing the root after each removal. The algorithm ends when the root is picked to be removed. The total number of steps for this procedure, $K_n$, is upper bounded by $Z_{\geq D}$, which denotes the number of vertices that have degree at least as large as the degree of the root. We prove that $\ln Z_{\geq D}$ grows as $\ln n$ asymptotically and obtain its limiting behavior in probability. Moreover, we obtain that the kth moment of $\ln Z_{\geq D}$ is proportional to $(\!\ln n)^k$. As a consequence, we obtain that the first-order growth of $K_n$ is upper bounded by $n^{1-\ln 2}$, which is substantially smaller than the required number of removals if, instead, the vertices were selected uniformly at random.

We study the noise sensitivity of the minimum spanning tree (MST) of the $n$-vertex complete graph when edges are assigned independent random weights. It is known that when the graph distance is rescaled by $n^{1/3}$ and vertices are given a uniform measure, the MST converges in distribution in the Gromov–Hausdorff–Prokhorov (GHP) topology. We prove that if the weight of each edge is resampled independently with probability $\varepsilon \gg n^{-1/3}$, then the pair of rescaled minimum spanning trees – before and after the noise – converges in distribution to independent random spaces. Conversely, if $\varepsilon \ll n^{-1/3}$, the GHP distance between the rescaled trees goes to $0$ in probability. This implies the noise sensitivity and stability for every property of the MST that corresponds to a continuity set of the random limit. The noise threshold of $n^{-1/3}$ coincides with the critical window of the Erdős-Rényi random graphs. In fact, these results follow from an analog theorem we prove regarding the minimum spanning forest of critical random graphs.

Let $\mathcal{V}$ and $\mathcal{U}$ be the point sets of two independent homogeneous Poisson processes on $\mathbb{R}^d$. A graph $\mathcal{G}_\mathcal{V}$ with vertex set $\mathcal{V}$ is constructed by first connecting pairs of points (v, u) with $v\in\mathcal{V}$ and $u\in\mathcal{U}$ independently with probability $g(v-u)$, where g is a non-increasing radial function, and then connecting two points $v_1,v_2\in\mathcal{V}$ if and only if they have a joint neighbor $u\in\mathcal{U}$. This gives rise to a random intersection graph on $\mathbb{R}^d$. Local properties of the graph, including the degree distribution, are investigated and quantified in terms of the intensities of the underlying Poisson processes and the function g. Furthermore, the percolation properties of the graph are characterized and shown to differ depending on whether g has bounded or unbounded support.

As a generalization of random recursive trees and preferential attachment trees, we consider random recursive metric spaces. These spaces are constructed from random blocks, each a metric space equipped with a probability measure, containing a labelled point called a hook, and assigned a weight. Random recursive metric spaces are equipped with a probability measure made up of a weighted sum of the probability measures assigned to its constituent blocks. At each step in the growth of a random recursive metric space, a point called a latch is chosen at random according to the equipped probability measure, and a new block is chosen at random and attached to the space by joining together the latch and the hook of the block. We use martingale theory to prove a law of large numbers and a central limit theorem for the insertion depth, the distance from the master hook to the latch chosen. We also apply our results to further generalizations of random trees, hooking networks, and continuous spaces constructed from line segments.

We investigate the existence of a rainbow Hamilton cycle in a uniformly edge-coloured randomly perturbed digraph. We show that for every $\delta \in (0,1)$ there exists $C = C(\delta ) \gt 0$ such that the following holds. Let $D_0$ be an $n$-vertex digraph with minimum semidegree at least $\delta n$ and suppose that each edge of the union of $D_0$ with a copy of the random digraph $\mathbf{D}(n,C/n)$ on the same vertex set gets a colour in $[n]$ independently and uniformly at random. Then, with high probability, $D_0 \cup \mathbf{D}(n,C/n)$ has a rainbow directed Hamilton cycle.

This improves a result of Aigner-Horev and Hefetz ((2021) SIAM J. Discrete Math. 35(3) 1569–1577), who proved the same in the undirected setting when the edges are coloured uniformly in a set of $(1 + \varepsilon )n$ colours.

We find asymptotics of the maximum size of a chordal subgraph in a binomial random graph $G(n,p)$, for $p=\mathrm{const}$ and $p=n^{-\alpha +o(1)}$.

The $d$-process generates a graph at random by starting with an empty graph with $n$ vertices, then adding edges one at a time uniformly at random among all pairs of vertices which have degrees at most $d-1$ and are not mutually joined. We show that, in the evolution of a random graph with $n$ vertices under the $d$-process with $d$ fixed, with high probability, for each $j \in \{0,1,\dots,d-2\}$, the minimum degree jumps from $j$ to $j+1$ when the number of steps left is on the order of $\ln (n)^{d-j-1}$. This answers a question of Ruciński and Wormald. More specifically, we show that, when the last vertex of degree $j$ disappears, the number of steps left divided by $\ln (n)^{d-j-1}$ converges in distribution to the exponential random variable of mean $\frac{j!}{2(d-1)!}$; furthermore, these $d-1$ distributions are independent.

The protection number of a vertex $v$ in a tree is the length of the shortest path from $v$ to any leaf contained in the maximal subtree where $v$ is the root. In this paper, we determine the distribution of the maximum protection number of a vertex in simply generated trees, thereby refining a recent result of Devroye, Goh, and Zhao. Two different cases can be observed: if the given family of trees allows vertices of outdegree $1$, then the maximum protection number is on average logarithmic in the tree size, with a discrete double-exponential limiting distribution. If no such vertices are allowed, the maximum protection number is doubly logarithmic in the tree size and concentrated on at most two values. These results are obtained by studying the singular behaviour of the generating functions of trees with bounded protection number. While a general distributional result by Prodinger and Wagner can be used in the first case, we prove a variant of that result in the second case.

The game of Cops and Robber is usually played on a graph, where a group of cops attempt to catch a robber moving along the edges of the graph. The cop number of a graph is the minimum number of cops required to win the game. An important conjecture in this area, due to Meyniel, states that the cop number of an n-vertex connected graph is $O(\sqrt {n})$. In 2016, Prałat and Wormald showed that this conjecture holds with high probability for random graphs above the connectedness threshold. Moreover, Łuczak and Prałat showed that on a $\log $-scale the cop number demonstrates a surprising zigzag behavior in dense regimes of the binomial random graph $G(n,p)$. In this paper, we consider the game of Cops and Robber on a hypergraph, where the players move along hyperedges instead of edges. We show that with high probability the cop number of the k-uniform binomial random hypergraph $G^k(n,p)$ is $O\left (\sqrt {\frac {n}{k}}\, \log n \right )$ for a broad range of parameters p and k and that on a $\log $-scale our upper bound on the cop number arises as the minimum of two complementary zigzag curves, as opposed to the case of $G(n,p)$. Furthermore, we conjecture that the cop number of a connected k-uniform hypergraph on n vertices is $O\left (\sqrt {\frac {n}{k}}\,\right )$.

We study a variant of the color-avoiding percolation model introduced by Krause et al., namely we investigate the color-avoiding bond percolation setup on (not necessarily properly) edge-colored Erdős–Rényi random graphs. We say that two vertices are color-avoiding connected in an edge-colored graph if, after the removal of the edges of any color, they are in the same component in the remaining graph. The color-avoiding connected components of an edge-colored graph are maximal sets of vertices such that any two of them are color-avoiding connected. We consider the fraction of vertices contained in color-avoiding connected components of a given size, as well as the fraction of vertices contained in the giant color-avoidin g connected component. It is known that these quantities converge, and the limits can be expressed in terms of probabilities associated to edge-colored branching process trees. We provide explicit formulas for the limit of the fraction of vertices contained in the giant color-avoiding connected component, and we give a simpler asymptotic expression for it in the barely supercritical regime. In addition, in the two-colored case we also provide explicit formulas for the limit of the fraction of vertices contained in color-avoiding connected components of a given size.

A result of Gyárfás [12] exactly determines the size of a largest monochromatic component in an arbitrary $r$-colouring of the complete $k$-uniform hypergraph $K_n^k$ when $k\geq 2$ and $k\in \{r-1,r\}$. We prove a result which says that if one replaces $K_n^k$ in Gyárfás’ theorem by any ‘expansive’ $k$-uniform hypergraph on $n$ vertices (that is, a $k$-uniform hypergraph $G$ on $n$ vertices in which $e(V_1, \ldots, V_k)\gt 0$ for all disjoint sets $V_1, \ldots, V_k\subseteq V(G)$ with $|V_i|\gt \alpha$ for all $i\in [k]$), then one gets a largest monochromatic component of essentially the same size (within a small error term depending on $r$ and $\alpha$). As corollaries we recover a number of known results about large monochromatic components in random hypergraphs and random Steiner triple systems, often with drastically improved bounds on the error terms.

Gyárfás’ result is equivalent to the dual problem of determining the smallest possible maximum degree of an arbitrary $r$-partite $r$-uniform hypergraph $H$ with $n$ edges in which every set of $k$ edges has a common intersection. In this language, our result says that if one replaces the condition that every set of $k$ edges has a common intersection with the condition that for every collection of $k$ disjoint sets $E_1, \ldots, E_k\subseteq E(H)$ with $|E_i|\gt \alpha$, there exists $(e_1, \ldots, e_k)\in E_1\times \cdots \times E_k$ such that $e_1\cap \cdots \cap e_k\neq \emptyset$, then the smallest possible maximum degree of $H$ is essentially the same (within a small error term depending on $r$ and $\alpha$). We prove our results in this dual setting.

The asymptotic behavior of the Jaccard index in G(n, p), the classical Erdös–Rényi random graph model, is studied as n goes to infinity. We first derive the asymptotic distribution of the Jaccard index of any pair of distinct vertices, as well as the first two moments of this index. Then the average of the Jaccard indices over all vertex pairs in G(n, p) is shown to be asymptotically normal under an additional mild condition that $np\to\infty$ and $n^2(1-p)\to\infty$.

Centrality measures aim to indicate who is important in a network. Various notions of ‘being important’ give rise to different centrality measures. In this paper, we study how important the central vertices are for the connectivity structure of the network, by investigating how the removal of the most central vertices affects the number of connected components and the size of the giant component. We use local convergence techniques to identify the limiting number of connected components for locally converging graphs and centrality measures that depend on the vertex’s neighbourhood. For the size of the giant, we prove a general upper bound. For the matching lower bound, we specialise to the case of degree centrality on one of the most popular models in network science, the configuration model, for which we show that removal of the highest-degree vertices destroys the giant most.

We show that the independence number of $ G_{n,p}$ is concentrated on two values if $ n^{-2/3+ \epsilon } < p \le 1$. This result is roughly best possible as an argument of Sah and Sawhney shows that the independence number is not, in general, concentrated on two values for $ p = o ( (\log (n)/n)^{2/3} )$. The extent of concentration of the independence number of $ G_{n,p}$ for $ \omega (1/n) < p \le n^{-2/3}$ remains an interesting open question.