Connectivity Threshold for random subgraphs of the Hamming graph

We study the connectivity of random subgraphs of the $d$-dimensional Hamming graph $H(d, n)$, which is the Cartesian product of $d$ complete graphs on $n$ vertices. We sample the random subgraph with an i.i.d.\ Bernoulli bond percolation on $H(d,n)$ with parameter $p$. We identify the window of the transition: when $np- \log n \to - \infty$ the probability that the graph is connected goes to $0$, while when $np- \log n \to + \infty$ it converges to $1$. We also investigate the connectivity probability inside the critical window, namely when $np- \log n \to t \in \mathbb{R}$. We find that the threshold does not depend on $d$, unlike the phase transition of the giant connected component the Hamming graph (see [Bor et al, 2005]). Within the critical window, the connectivity probability does depend on d. We determine how.Comment: 10 pages, no figure

Average Sensitivity of Graph Algorithms

In modern applications of graphs algorithms, where the graphs of interest are large and dynamic, it is unrealistic to assume that an input representation contains the full information of a graph being studied. Hence, it is desirable to use algorithms that, even when only a (large) subgraph is available, output solutions that are close to the solutions output when the whole graph is available. We formalize this idea by introducing the notion of average sensitivity of graph algorithms, which is the average earth mover's distance between the output distributions of an algorithm on a graph and its subgraph obtained by removing an edge, where the average is over the edges removed and the distance between two outputs is the Hamming distance. In this work, we initiate a systematic study of average sensitivity. After deriving basic properties of average sensitivity such as composition, we provide efficient approximation algorithms with low average sensitivities for concrete graph problems, including the minimum spanning forest problem, the global minimum cut problem, the minimum $s$-$t$ cut problem, and the maximum matching problem. In addition, we prove that the average sensitivity of our global minimum cut algorithm is almost optimal, by showing a nearly matching lower bound. We also show that every algorithm for the 2-coloring problem has average sensitivity linear in the number of vertices. One of the main ideas involved in designing our algorithms with low average sensitivity is the following fact; if the presence of a vertex or an edge in the solution output by an algorithm can be decided locally, then the algorithm has a low average sensitivity, allowing us to reuse the analyses of known sublinear-time algorithms and local computation algorithms (LCAs). Using this connection, we show that every LCA for 2-coloring has linear query complexity, thereby answering an open question.Comment: 39 pages, 1 figur

Long geodesics in subgraphs of the cube

A path in the hypercube $Q_n$ is said to be a geodesic if no two of its edges are in the same direction. Let $G$ be a subgraph of $Q_n$ with average degree $d$. How long a geodesic must $G$ contain? We show that $G$ must contain a geodesic of length $d$. This result, which is best possible, strengthens a theorem of Feder and Subi. It is also related to the `antipodal colourings' conjecture of Norine.Comment: 8 page