Cycle lengths in sparse random graphs

TL;DR

This paper investigates the distribution of cycle lengths in sparse random graphs, deriving explicit probabilities for the presence of entire ranges of cycle lengths in various models, including regular, Erdős–Rényi, and directed graphs.

Contribution

It provides explicit limiting probabilities for the occurrence of large cycle ranges in different sparse random graph models, extending classical results.

Findings

Probability of full cycle range in regular graphs approaches 1 as range length increases.

Analogous results hold for Erdős–Rényi graphs with fixed average degree.

Identification of cycle length intervals in supercritical regimes.

Abstract

We study the set ${\cal L}(G)$ of lengths of all cycles that appear in a random $d$-regular $G$ on $n$ vertices for a fixed $d\geq 3$, as well as in Erd\H{o}s--R\'enyi random graphs on $n$ vertices with a fixed average degree $c>1$. Fundamental results on the distribution of cycle counts in these models were established in the 1980's and early 1990's, with a focus on the extreme lengths: cycles of fixed length, and cycles of length linear in $n$. Here we derive, for a random $d$-regular graph, the limiting probability that ${\cal L}(G)$ simultaneously contains the entire range $\{\ell,\ldots,n\}$ for $\ell\geq 3$, as an explicit expression $\theta_\ell=\theta_\ell(d)\in(0,1)$ which goes to $1$ as $\ell\to\infty$. For the random graph ${\cal G}(n,p)$ with $p=c/n$, where $c\geq C_0$ for some absolute constant $C_0$, we show the analogous result for the range $\{\ell,\ldots,(1-o(1))L_{\max}(G)\}$, where $L_{\max}$ is the length of a longest cycle in $G$. The limiting probability for ${\cal G}(n,p)$ coincides with $\theta_\ell$ from the $d$-regular case when $c$ is the integer $d-1$. In addition, for the directed random graph ${\cal D}(n,p)$ we show results analogous to those on ${\cal G}(n,p)$, and for both models we find an interval of $c \epsilon^2 n$ consecutive cycle lengths in the slightly supercritical regime $p=\frac{1+\epsilon}n$.