Square percolation and the threshold for quadratic divergence in random right-angled Coxeter groups

TL;DR

This paper determines the precise threshold probability for the emergence of a certain square-graph structure in Erdős–Rényi random graphs and links this to the algebraic properties of associated random right-angled Coxeter groups.

Contribution

It provides a sharp threshold for the square-graph connectivity in random graphs and connects this to the algebraic thickness and divergence properties of random Coxeter groups.

Findings

Threshold probability p_c(n) = (√(√6 - 2))/√n for square-graph connectivity.

Below p_c(n), the square-graph is typically disconnected.

Above p_c(n), the associated Coxeter groups are strongly algebraically thick of order 1 with quadratic divergence.

Abstract

Given a graph $\Gamma$, its auxiliary \emph{square-graph} $\square(\Gamma)$ is the graph whose vertices are the non-edges of $\Gamma$ and whose edges are the pairs of non-edges which induce a square (i.e., a $4$-cycle) in $\Gamma$. We determine the threshold edge-probability $p=p_c(n)$ at which the Erd{\H o}s--R\'enyi random graph $\Gamma=\Gamma_{n,p}$ begins to asymptotically almost surely have a square-graph with a connected component whose squares together cover all the vertices of $\Gamma_{n,p}$. We show $p_c(n)=\sqrt{\sqrt{6}-2}/\sqrt{n}$, a polylogarithmic improvement on earlier bounds on $p_c(n)$ due to Hagen and the authors. As a corollary, we determine the threshold $p=p_c(n)$ at which the random right-angled Coxeter group $W_{\Gamma_{n,p}}$ asymptotically almost surely becomes strongly algebraically thick of order $1$ and has quadratic divergence.