Title: Avoiding small subgraphs in Achlioptas processes
Speaker: Michael Krivelevich, Tel Aviv University
When: February 14, 12:30-13:30
Where: Porter Hall 125B
Abstract:
Consider the following model of random graphs. We are given a monotone graph property P (Hamiltonicity, non-3-colorability, containment of a copy of a fixed graph H etc.) and an integer parameter r>=1. At each round, we are presented with r random edges from the set of edges of the complete graph K_n on n vertices and are asked to choose one of them. The task is to design an online edge choice algorithm that will be able to postpone (avoid) or to facilitate (embrace) almost surely the appearance of P. This model is sometimes called the Achlioptas process, after Dimitris Achlioptas who suggested it for the case r=2 and the property P being the existence of a linear sized connected component (the so called giant component) in the graph. The latter setting is essentially the only one that has been studied extensively so far. In the work to be presented, we were able to achieve a satisfactory solution for the case where the task is to avoid the appearance of a fixed graph H, and H is either a cycle, or a complete graph, or a complete bipartite graph. The answer is quite surprising and depends heavily on the parameter r. For example, the threshold for avoiding K_4 in the Achlioptas process with parameter r=2 is n^{28/19}.
