Evaluations of Tutte polynomials of regular graphs

TL;DR

This paper investigates the asymptotic behavior of Tutte polynomials for sequences of regular graphs with increasing girth, revealing a universal limit depending only on the degree and parameters, and extends previous results to broader cases.

Contribution

It establishes a general limit theorem for Tutte polynomials of large-girth regular graphs, unifying and extending prior specific results for spanning trees and forests.

Findings

Limit of normalized Tutte polynomials exists for large-girth regular graphs.

The limit is independent of the parameter y within [0,1].

Results apply almost surely to random regular graphs.

Abstract

Let $T_G(x,y)$ be the Tutte polynomial of a graph $G$. In this paper we show that if $(G_n)_n$ is a sequence of $d$-regular graphs with girth $g(G_n)\to \infty$, then for $x\geq 1$ and $0\leq y\leq 1$ we have $$\lim_{n\to \infty}T_{G_n}(x,y)^{1/v(G_n)}=t_d(x,y),$$ where $$t_d(x,y)=\left\{\begin{array}{lc} (d-1)\left(\frac{(d-1)^2}{(d-1)^2-x}\right)^{d/2-1}&\ \ \mbox{if}\ x\leq d-1,\\ x\left(1+\frac{1}{x-1}\right)^{d/2-1} &\ \ \mbox{if}\ x> d-1. \end{array}\right.$$ independently of $y$ if $0\leq y\leq 1$. If $(G_n)_n$ is a sequence of random $d$-regular graphs, then the same statement holds true asymptotically almost surely. This theorem generalizes results of McKay ($x=1,y=1$, spanning trees of random $d$-regular graphs) and Lyons ($x=1,y=1$, spanning trees of large-girth $d$-regular graphs). Interesting special cases are $T_G(2,1)$ counting the number of spanning forests, $T_G(2,0)$ counting the number of acyclic orientations.