Homemath.COarXiv:2605.29553

Sharp threshold for Hamilton cycles in randomly perturbed sparse graphs

math.CO2026-05v1license

Abstract

We determine the sharp threshold for Hamilton cycles in randomly perturbed sparse graphs. For any α=α(n)=o(1)\alpha=\alpha(n)=o(1), let GαG_{\alpha} be an nn-vertex graph with minimum degree δ(Gα)αn\delta(G_{\alpha})\ge\alpha n. We prove that if p(1+ε)log(1/α)n,p\ge(1+\varepsilon)\frac{\log(1/\alpha)}{n}, then the union GαG(n,p)G_{\alpha}\cup G(n,p) is Hamiltonian asymptotically almost surely. This significantly strengthens a recent result of Hahn-Klimroth, Maesaka, Mogge, Mohr, and Parczyk by improving the leading constant from 6 to the optimal value of 1. Crucially, we show that this bound on pp is best possible when αn\alpha n\rightarrow\infty, thereby establishing the exact probability threshold for Hamiltonicity in this sparse regime. Our proof relies on a robust random expansion lemma, P\'{o}sa's booster lemma, and a sprinkling argument.

Comments: 7 pages

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.29553,
  title  = {Sharp threshold for Hamilton cycles in randomly perturbed sparse graphs},
  author = {Guorui Ma and Zhifei Yan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.29553},
  year   = {2026}
}