Self-avoiding walks and connective constants

The connective constant $\mu(G)$ of a quasi-transitive graph $G$ is the asymptotic growth rate of the number of self-avoiding walks (SAWs) on $G$ from a given starting vertex. We survey several aspects of the relationship between the connective constant and the underlying graph $G$. $\bullet$ We present upper and lower bounds for $\mu$ in terms of the vertex-degree and girth of a transitive graph. $\bullet$ We discuss the question of whether $\mu\ge\phi$ for transitive cubic graphs (where $\phi$ denotes the golden mean), and we introduce the Fisher transformation for SAWs (that is, the replacement of vertices by triangles). $\bullet$ We present strict inequalities for the connective constants $\mu(G)$ of transitive graphs $G$, as $G$ varies. $\bullet$ As a consequence of the last, the connective constant of a Cayley graph of a finitely generated group decreases strictly when a new relator is added, and increases strictly when a non-trivial group element is declared to be a further generator. $\bullet$ We describe so-called graph height functions within an account of "bridges" for quasi-transitive graphs, and indicate that the bridge constant equals the connective constant when the graph has a unimodular graph height function. $\bullet$ A partial answer is given to the question of the locality of connective constants, based around the existence of unimodular graph height functions. $\bullet$ Examples are presented of Cayley graphs of finitely presented groups that possess graph height functions (that are, in addition, harmonic and unimodular), and that do not. $\bullet$ The review closes with a brief account of the "speed" of SAW.Comment: Accepted version. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1304.721

Counting self-avoiding walks

The connective constant $\mu(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the asymptotic growth rate of the number of self-avoiding walks on $G$ from a given starting vertex. We survey three aspects of the dependence of the connective constant on the underlying graph $G$. Firstly, when $G$ is cubic, we study the effect on $\mu(G)$ of the Fisher transformation (that is, the replacement of vertices by triangles). Secondly, we discuss upper and lower bounds for $\mu(G)$ when $G$ is regular. Thirdly, we present strict inequalities for the connective constants $\mu(G)$ of vertex-transitive graphs $G$, as $G$ varies. As a consequence of the last, the connective constant of a Cayley graph of a finitely generated group decreases strictly when a new relator is added, and increases strictly when a non-trivial group element is declared to be a generator. Special prominence is given to open problems.Comment: Very minor changes for v2. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1301.309

Locality of connective constants

The connective constant $\mu(G)$ of a quasi-transitive graph $G$ is the exponential growth rate of the number of self-avoiding walks from a given origin. We prove a locality theorem for connective constants, namely, that the connective constants of two graphs are close in value whenever the graphs agree on a large ball around the origin (and a further condition is satisfied). The proof exploits a generalized bridge decomposition of self-avoiding walks, which is valid subject to the assumption that the underlying graph is quasi-transitive and possesses a so-called unimodular graph height function

Self-avoiding walk on nonunimodular transitive graphs

We study self-avoiding walk on graphs whose automorphism group has a transitive nonunimodular subgroup. We prove that self-avoiding walk is ballistic, that the bubble diagram converges at criticality, and that the critical two-point function decays exponentially in the distance from the origin. This implies that the critical exponent governing the susceptibility takes its mean-field value, and hence that the number of self-avoiding walks of length $n$ is comparable to the $n$th power of the connective constant. We also prove that the same results hold for a large class of repulsive walk models with a self-intersection based interaction, including the weakly self-avoiding walk. All these results apply in particular to the product $T_k \times \Z^d$ of a $k$-regular tree ($k\geq 3$) with $\Z^d$, for which these results were previously only known for large $k$.Microsoft Researc

Connective constants and height functions for Cayley graphs

The connective constant $μ$($G$) of an infinite transitive graph $G$ is the exponential growth rate of the number of self-avoiding walks from a given origin. In earlier work of Grimmett and Li, a locality theorem was proved for connective constants, namely, that the connective constants of two graphs are close in value whenever the graphs agree on a large ball around the origin. A condition of the theorem was that the graphs support so-called “unimodular graph height functions”. When the graphs are Cayley graphs of infinite, finitely generated groups, there is a special type of unimodular graph height function termed here a “$\textit{group}$ height function”. A necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a group height function is presented, and may be applied in the context of the bridge constant, and of the locality of connective constants for Cayley graphs. Locality may thereby be established for a variety of infinite groups including those with strictly positive deficiency. It is proved that a large class of Cayley graphs support unimodular graph height functions, that are in addition $\textit{harmonic}$ on the graph. This implies, for example, the existence of unimodular graph height functions for the Cayley graphs of finitely generated solvable groups. It turns out that graphs with non-unimodular automorphism subgroups also possess graph height functions, but the resulting graph height functions need not be harmonic. Group height functions, as well as the graph height functions of the previous paragraph, are non-constant harmonic functions with linear growth and an additional property of having periodic differences. The existence of such functions on Cayley graphs is a topic of interest beyond their applications in the theory of self-avoiding walks.The first author was supported in part by EPSRC Grant EP/I03372X/1. The second author was supported in part by Simons Collaboration Grant #351813 and NSF grant #1608896

Cubic graphs and the golden mean

The connective constant $\mu(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the exponential growth rate of the number of self-avoiding walks starting at a given vertex. We investigate the validity of the inequality $\mu \ge \phi$ for infinite, transitive, simple, cubic graphs, where $\phi:= \frac12(1+\sqrt 5)$ is the golden mean. The inequality is proved for several families of graphs including (i) Cayley graphs of infinite groups with three generators and strictly positive first Betti number, (ii) infinite, transitive, topologically locally finite (TLF) planar, cubic graphs, and (iii) cubic Cayley graphs with two ends. Bounds for $\mu$ are presented for transitive cubic graphs with girth either $3$ or $4$, and for certain quasi-transitive cubic graphs.This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under grant EP/I03372X/1. ZL acknowledges support from the Simons Foundation under grant #351813 and the National Science Foundation under grant DMS-1608896

Self-avoiding walk is ballistic on graphs with more than one end

We prove that on any transitive graph $G$ with infinitely many ends, a self-avoiding walk of length $n$ is ballistic with extremely high probability, in the sense that there exist constants c,t>0 such that $\mathbb{P}_n(d_G(w_0,w_n)\geq cn)\geq 1-e^{-tn}$ for every $n\geq 1$. Furthermore, we show that the number of self-avoiding walks of length $n$ grows asymptotically like $\mu_w^n$, in the sense that there exists C>0 such that $\mu_w^n\leq c_n\leq C\mu_w^n$ for every $n\geq 1$. Our results extend more generally to quasi-transitive graphs with infinitely many ends, satisfying the additional technical property that there is a quasi-transitive group of automorphisms of $G$ which does not fix an end of $G$