English

Limit Laws for the Distance to Fr\'echet Means of Random Graphs

Probability 2026-03-31 v1 Combinatorics

Abstract

This paper investigates the Fr\'echet mean of the Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random graph Gn,pG_{n,p} with respect to the Frobenius distance on graph Laplacians, a metric that captures global structural information beyond local edge flips. We first characterize the Fr\'echet mean set as consisting of quasi-regular graphs (i.e., graphs where all vertex degrees differ by at most one). We then analyze the asymptotic behavior of the Frobenius distance Fn=dF(Gn,p,R)F_n=d_{\mathrm{F}}(G_{n,p},R) as nn\to\infty, where RR is any Fr\'echet mean. Closed-form expressions for the mean and variance of Fn2F_n^2 are derived, which are invariant to the choice of RR. Leveraging these results, we establish several weak convergence laws for the Frobenius distance over all regimes of p(0,1)p \in (0,1) as nn \to \infty. Finally, under the scaling condition n2p(1p)n^2 p(1-p) \to \infty we prove the asymptotic normality of this distance, which exhibits a phase transition governed by the growth rate of np(1p)np(1-p). Our results reveal how metric selection fundamentally shapes Fr\'echet mean geometry in random graphs.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.28212,
  title  = {Limit Laws for the Distance to Fr\'echet Means of Random Graphs},
  author = {Qunqiang Feng and Zixin Tang and Zhishui Hu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.28212},
  year   = {2026}
}