English

On the Dimension and Euler characteristic of random graphs

Probability 2011-12-30 v1 Computational Geometry Discrete Mathematics Networking and Internet Architecture Combinatorics

Abstract

The inductive dimension dim(G) of a finite undirected graph G=(V,E) is a rational number defined inductively as 1 plus the arithmetic mean of the dimensions of the unit spheres dim(S(x)) at vertices x primed by the requirement that the empty graph has dimension -1. We look at the distribution of the random variable "dim" on the Erdos-Renyi probability space G(n,p), where each of the n(n-1)/2 edges appears independently with probability p. We show here that the average dimension E[dim] is a computable polynomial of degree n(n-1)/2 in p. The explicit formulas allow experimentally to explore limiting laws for the dimension of large graphs. We also study the expectation E[X] of the Euler characteristic X, considered as a random variable on G(n,p). We look experimentally at the statistics of curvature K(v) and local dimension dim(v) = 1+dim(S(v)) which satisfy the Gauss-Bonnet formula X(G) = sum K(v) and by definition dim(G) = sum dim(v)/|V|. We also look at the signature functions f(p)=E[dim], g(p)=E[X] and matrix values functions A(p) = Cov[{dim(v),dim(w)], B(p) = Cov[K(v),K(w)] on the probability space G(p) of all subgraphs of a host graph G=(V,E) with the same vertex set V, where each edge is turned on with probability p. If G is the complete graph or a union of cyclic graphs with have explicit formulas for the signature polynomials f and g.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1112.5749,
  title  = {On the Dimension and Euler characteristic of random graphs},
  author = {Oliver Knill},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1112.5749},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

18 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables

R2 v1 2026-06-21T19:56:45.627Z