On the subgraph query problem

TL;DR

This paper investigates the number of adjacency queries needed to find a fixed subgraph in an Erdős-Rényi graph, improving bounds and revealing new complexities for certain graph classes.

Contribution

It introduces an algorithm that finds subgraphs faster than the trivial bound and demonstrates that some graphs require nearly quadratic query complexity as the edge probability approaches zero.

Findings

Improved upper bounds for subgraph search query complexity.

Existence of 2-degenerate graphs requiring near p^{-2} queries.

Lower bounds on clique detection in random graphs with limited queries.

Abstract

Given a fixed graph $H$, a real number $p\in(0,1)$, and an infinite Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi graph $G\sim G(\infty,p)$, how many adjacency queries do we have to make to find a copy of $H$ inside $G$ with probability $1/2$? Determining this number $f(H,p)$ is a variant of the {\it subgraph query problem} introduced by Ferber, Krivelevich, Sudakov, and Vieira. For every graph $H$, we improve the trivial upper bound of $f(H,p) = O(p^{-d})$, where $d$ is the degeneracy of $H$, by exhibiting an algorithm that finds a copy of $H$ in time $o(p^{-d})$ as $p$ goes to $0$. Furthermore, we prove that there are $2$-degenerate graphs which require $p^{-2+o(1)}$ queries, showing for the first time that there exist graphs $H$ for which $f(H,p)$ does not grow like a constant power of $p^{-1}$ as $p$ goes to $0$. Finally, we answer a question of Feige, Gamarnik, Neeman, R\'acz, and Tetali by showing that for any $\delta < 2$, there exists $\alpha < 2$ such that one cannot find a clique of order $\alpha \log_2 n$ in $G(n,1/2)$ in $n^\delta$ queries.