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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.
We define the co-spectral radius of inclusions ${\mathcal S}\leq {\mathcal R}$ of discrete, probability- measure-preserving equivalence relations as the sampling exponent of a generating random walk on the ambient relation. The co-spectral radius is analogous to the spectral radius for random walks on $G/H$ for inclusion $H\leq G$ of groups. For the proof, we develop a more general version of the 2–3 method we used in another work on the growth of unimodular random rooted trees. We use this method to show that the walk growth exists for an arbitrary unimodular random rooted graph of bounded degree. We also investigate how the co-spectral radius behaves for hyperfinite relations, and discuss new critical exponents for percolation that can be defined using the co-spectral radius.
In this chapter, we describe a few discrete probability models to which we will come back repeatedly throughout the book. While there exists a vast array of well-studied random combinatorial structures (permutations, partitions, urn models, Boolean functions, polytopes, etc.), our focus is primarily on a limited number of graph-based processes, namely percolation, random graphs, Ising models, and random walks on networks. We will not attempt to derive the theory of these models exhaustively here. Instead we will employ them to illustrate some essential techniques from discrete probability. Note that the toolkit developed in this book is meant to apply to other probabilistic models of interest as well, and in fact many more will be encountered along the way. After a brief review of graph basics and Markov chains theory, we formally introduce our main models. We also formulate various key questions about these models that will be answered (at least partially) later on. We assume that the reader is familiar with the measure-theoretic foundations of probability. A refresher of all required concepts and results is provided in the appendix.
We propose a modification to the random destruction of graphs: given a finite network with a distinguished set of sources and targets, remove (cut) vertices at random, discarding components that do not contain a source node. We investigate the number of cuts required until all targets are removed, and the size of the remaining graph. This model interpolates between the random cutting model going back to Meir and Moon (J. Austral. Math. Soc.11, 1970) and site percolation. We prove several general results, including that the size of the remaining graph is a tight family of random variables for compatible sequences of expander-type graphs, and determine limiting distributions for binary caterpillar trees and complete binary trees.
We introduce a formula for translating any upper bound on the percolation threshold of a lattice $G$ into a lower bound on the exponential growth rate of lattice animals $a(G)$ and vice versa. We exploit this in both directions. We obtain the rigorous lower bound ${\dot{p}_c}({\mathbb{Z}}^3)\gt 0.2522$ for 3-dimensional site percolation. We also improve on the best known asymptotic bounds on $a({\mathbb{Z}}^d)$ as $d\to \infty$. Our formula remains valid if instead of lattice animals we enumerate certain subspecies called interfaces. Enumerating interfaces leads to functional duality formulas that are tightly connected to percolation and are not valid for lattice animals, as well as to strict inequalities for the percolation threshold.
Incidentally, we prove that the rate of the exponential decay of the cluster size distribution of Bernoulli percolation is a continuous function of $p\in (0,1)$.
We study site and bond percolation in simple directed random graphs with a given degree distribution. We derive the percolation threshold for the giant strongly connected component and the fraction of vertices in this component as a function of the percolation probability. The results are obtained for degree sequences in which the maximum degree may depend on the total number of nodes n, being asymptotically bounded by $n^{\frac{1}{9}}$.
Let
$G=(V,E)$
be a countable graph. The Bunkbed graph of
$G$
is the product graph
$G \times K_2$
, which has vertex set
$V\times \{0,1\}$
with “horizontal” edges inherited from
$G$
and additional “vertical” edges connecting
$(w,0)$
and
$(w,1)$
for each
$w \in V$
. Kasteleyn’s Bunkbed conjecture states that for each
$u,v \in V$
and
$p\in [0,1]$
, the vertex
$(u,0)$
is at least as likely to be connected to
$(v,0)$
as to
$(v,1)$
under Bernoulli-
$p$
bond percolation on the bunkbed graph. We prove that the conjecture holds in the
$p \uparrow 1$
limit in the sense that for each finite graph
$G$
there exists
$\varepsilon (G)\gt 0$
such that the bunkbed conjecture holds for
$p \geqslant 1-\varepsilon (G)$
.
We consider supercritical site percolation on the
$d$
-dimensional hypercube
$Q^d$
. We show that typically all components in the percolated hypercube, besides the giant, are of size
$O(d)$
. This resolves a conjecture of Bollobás, Kohayakawa, and Łuczak from 1994.
We derive three critical exponents for Bernoulli site percolation on the uniform infinite planar triangulation (UIPT). First, we compute explicitly the probability that the root cluster is infinite. As a consequence, we show that the off-critical exponent for site percolation on the UIPT is $\beta = 1/2$. Then we establish an integral formula for the generating function of the number of vertices in the root cluster. We use this formula to prove that, at criticality, the probability that the root cluster has at least n vertices decays like $n^{-1/7}$. Finally, we also derive an expression for the law of the perimeter of the root cluster and use it to establish that, at criticality, the probability that the perimeter of the root cluster is equal to n decays like $n^{-4/3}$. Among these three exponents, only the last one was previously known. Our main tools are the so-called gasket decomposition of percolation clusters, generic properties of random Boltzmann maps, and analytic combinatorics.
The structure of network materials is stochastic. This chapter introduces the minimum set of geometric parameters required to describe the network structure. This set includes the fiber and crosslink densities, the mean segment length, a measure of preferential fiber orientation, and the connectivity index. The relation between the mean segment length and the fiber density is established for two- and three-dimensional networks with cellular and fibrous architectures. The effect of fiber tortuosity, fiber preferential alignment, and excluded volume interactions on the mean segment length are outlined. The statistics of pore sizes in networks of fibrous and cellular types is discussed in terms of the geometric network parameters. The percolation threshold, at which the first connected path forms across the network domain, is discussed for specific methods used to generate the network.
We investigate expansions for connectedness functions in the random connection model of continuum percolation in powers of the intensity. Precisely, we study the pair-connectedness and the direct-connectedness functions, related to each other via the Ornstein–Zernike equation. We exhibit the fact that the coefficients of the expansions consist of sums over connected and 2-connected graphs. In the physics literature, this is known to be the case more generally for percolation models based on Gibbs point processes and stands in analogy to the formalism developed for correlation functions in liquid-state statistical mechanics.
We find a representation of the direct-connectedness function and bounds on the intensity which allow us to pass to the thermodynamic limit. In some cases (e.g., in high dimensions), the results are valid in almost the entire subcritical regime. Moreover, we relate these expansions to the physics literature and we show how they coincide with the expression provided by the lace expansion.
In many systems consisting of interacting subsystems, the complex interactions between elements can be represented using multilayer networks. However percolation, key to understanding connectivity and robustness, is not trivially generalised to multiple layers. This Element describes a generalisation of percolation to multilayer networks: weak multiplex percolation. A node belongs to a connected component if at least one of its neighbours in each layer is in this component. The authors fully describe the critical phenomena of this process. In two layers with finite second moments of the degree distributions the authors observe an unusual continuous transition with quadratic growth above the threshold. When the second moments diverge, the singularity is determined by the asymptotics of the degree distributions, creating a rich set of critical behaviours. In three or more layers the authors find a discontinuous hybrid transition which persists even in highly heterogeneous degree distributions, becoming continuous only when the powerlaw exponent reaches $1+1/(M-1)$ for $M$ layers.
In this work, we study a new model for continuum line-of-sight percolation in a random environment driven by the Poisson–Voronoi tessellation in the d-dimensional Euclidean space. The edges (one-dimensional facets, or simply 1-facets) of this tessellation are the support of a Cox point process, while the vertices (zero-dimensional facets or simply 0-facets) are the support of a Bernoulli point process. Taking the superposition Z of these two processes, two points of Z are linked by an edge if and only if they are sufficiently close and located on the same edge (1-facet) of the supporting tessellation. We study the percolation of the random graph arising from this construction and prove that a 0–1 law, a subcritical phase, and a supercritical phase exist under general assumptions. Our proofs are based on a coarse-graining argument with some notion of stabilization and asymptotic essential connectedness to investigate continuum percolation for Cox point processes. We also give numerical estimates of the critical parameters of the model in the planar case, where our model is intended to represent telecommunications networks in a random environment with obstructive conditions for signal propagation.
Critical cascades are found in many self-organizing systems. Here, we examine critical cascades as a design paradigm for logic and learning under the linear threshold model (LTM), and simple biologically inspired variants of it as sources of computational power, learning efficiency, and robustness. First, we show that the LTM can compute logic, and with a small modification, universal Boolean logic, examining its stability and cascade frequency. We then frame it formally as a binary classifier and remark on implications for accuracy. Second, we examine the LTM as a statistical learning model, studying benefits of spatial constraints and criticality to efficiency. We also discuss implications for robustness in information encoding. Our experiments show that spatial constraints can greatly increase efficiency. Theoretical investigation and initial experimental results also indicate that criticality can result in a sudden increase in accuracy.
Using graphene on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) as an example, we introduce the concept of van der Waals heterostructures. First, we explain extraordinary high quality of graphene on hBN. Then we discuss the physics of formation of moiré patterns and a general problem of commensurability and incommensurability. We also discuss the basic consequences for electronic structure and electron transport properties, including a conductivity along zero-mass lines, formation of additional Dirac points and recently experimentally discovered new types of magneto-oscillation effects in graphene superlattuces.
In this paper we consider random trees associated with the genealogy of Crump–Mode–Jagers processes and perform Bernoulli bond-percolation whose parameter depends on the size of the tree. Our purpose is to show the existence of a giant percolation cluster for appropriate regimes as the size grows. We stress that the family trees of Crump–Mode–Jagers processes include random recursive trees, preferential attachment trees, binary search trees for which this question has been answered by Bertoin [7], as well as (more general) m-ary search trees, fragmentation trees, and median-of-(
$2\ell+1$
) binary search trees, to name a few, where to our knowledge percolation has not yet been studied.
Abundance thresholds are of fundamental importance in our attempts to understand the dynamics of wildlife infection. Identifying and manipulating these thresholds may also have substantial applied significance. The plague system in the Pre-Balkhash region of Kazakhstan has been extensively studied, including an unusually thorough investigation of the nature and importance of an abundance threshold for the infection. Great gerbils are the main reservoir host, with plague transmitted between them by a variety of flea species. Initial work identified such a threshold from time-series data, with great gerbil abundance being measured by level of occupancy (the proportion of the burrow systems in the landscape supporting an extended family group). However, this and other refinements of the threshold were better at predicting the absence of plague (below the threshold) than in guaranteeing its presence (above). Further analysis indicated that the threshold was a critical point in the percolation of plague across the landscape, rather than in a mass-action random mixing process. The performance of the threshold was also improved by incorporating both gerbil and flea abundance to generate a hyperbolic threshold curve.
A large and sparse random graph with independent exponentially distributed link weights can be used to model the propagation of messages or diseases in a network with an unknown connectivity structure. In this article we study an extended setting where, in addition, the nodes of the graph are equipped with nonnegative random weights which are used to model the effect of boundary delays across paths in the network. Our main results provide approximative formulas for typical first passage times, typical flooding times, and maximum flooding times in the extended setting, over a time scale logarithmic with respect to the network size.
We discuss percolation and random walks in a class of homogeneous ultrametric spaces together with similarities and differences in ultrametric and Euclidean spaces. We briefly outline the role of these models in the study of interacting systems. Several open problems are presented.