Vertex Connectivity of Friends-and-Strangers Graphs

Abstract

Friends-and-strangers graphs, coined by Defant and Kravitz, are graphs on $n!$ vertices denoted by $\mathsf{FS}(X,Y)$ where $X$ and $Y$ are both graphs on $n$ vertices. The graph $X$ represents positions and edges denote adjacent positions while the graph $Y$ represents people and edges denote friendships. The vertex set of $\mathsf{FS}(X,Y)$ consists of all one-to-one placements of people on positions, and there is an edge between any two placements if it is possible to swap two people who are friends and on adjacent positions to get from one placement to the other. Previous papers have studied when $\mathsf{FS}(X,Y)$ is connected. In this paper, we consider when $\mathsf{FS}(X,Y)$ is $k$-connected where a graph is $k$-connected if it remains connected after removing any $k-1$ or less vertices. The connectivity of a graph is the largest $k$ for which it is $k$-connected. We first consider $\mathsf{FS}(X,Y)$ when $Y$ is a complete graph or star graph. We find tight bounds on their connectivity, proving their connectivity equals their minimum degree. We show that asymptotically similar conditions as the conditions mentioned by Bangachev are sufficient for $\mathsf{FS}(X,Y)$ to be $k$-connected. Finally, we consider when $X$ and $Y$ are independent Erdős–Rényi random graphs on $n$ vertices and edge probability $p_1$ and $p_2,$ respectively. We show that for $p_0 = n^{-1/2+o(1)},$ if $p_1p_2\geq p_0^2$ and $p_1,$ $p_2 \geq w(n) p_0$ where $w(n) \rightarrow 0$ as $n \rightarrow \infty,$ then $\mathsf{FS}(X,Y)$ is $k$-connected with high probability. This is asymptotically tight as we show that below an asymptotically similar threshold $p_0'=n^{-1/2+o(1)}$, the graph $\mathsf{FS}(X,Y)$ is disconnected with high probability if $p_1p_2 \leq (p_0')^2$.