Rigidity-Induced Scaling Laws in Unit Distance Graphs: The Algebraic Collapse of Dense Substructures
Abstract
We revisit the classical Unit Distance Problem posed by Erd\H{o}s in 1946. While the upper bound of established by Spencer, Szemer'edi, and Trotter (1984) is tight for systems of pseudo-circles, it fails to account for the algebraic rigidity inherent to the Euclidean metric. By integrating structural rigidity decomposition with the theory of Cayley-Menger varieties, we demonstrate that unit distance graphs exceeding a critical density must contain rigid bipartite subgraphs. We prove a "Flatness Lemma," supported by symbolic computation of the elimination ideal, showing that the configuration variety of a unit-distance (and by extension ) in is algebraically singular and collapses to a lower-dimensional locus. This dimensional reduction precludes the existence of the amorphous, high-incidence structures required to sustain the scaling, effectively improving the upper bound for non-degenerate Euclidean configurations.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2601.18831,
title = {Rigidity-Induced Scaling Laws in Unit Distance Graphs: The Algebraic Collapse of Dense Substructures},
author = {Lucas Aloisio},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.18831},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
5 pages. Includes a "Flatness Lemma" proven via symbolic computation. Python verification script included as an ancillary file. Linguistic refinement and LaTeX formatting assisted by AI (Gemini)