On connectivity, conductance and bootstrap percolation for a random k-out, age-biased graph

Abstract: A uniform attachment graph (with parameter $k$), denoted $G_{n,k}$ in the paper, is a random graph on the vertex set $[n]$, where each vertex $v$ makes $k$ selections from $[v-1]$ uniformly and independently, and these selections determine the edge set. We study several aspects of this graph. Our motivation comes from two similarly constructed, well-studied random graphs: $k$-out graphs and preferential attachment graphs. In this paper, we find the asymptotic distribution of its minimum degree and connectivity, and study the expansion properties of $G_{n,k}$ to show that the conductance of $G_{n,k}$ is of order $(\log n)^{-1}$. We also study the bootstrap percolation on $G_{n,k}$, where, each vertex is either initially infected with probability $p$, independently of others, or gets infected later as a result of having $r$ infected neighbors at some point. We show that, for $2\le r\le k-1$, if $p\ll (\log n)^{-r/(r-1)}$, then, with probability approaching 1, the process ends before all vertices get infected. On the other hand, if $p\ge \omega(\log n)^{-r/(r-1)}$, where $\omega$ is a certain very slowly growing function, then all the vertices get infected with probability approaching 1.