Limits of sparse hypergraphs

Abstract

We generalize ultraproducts and local-global limits of graphs to hypergraphs and other structures. We show that the local statistics of an ultraproduct of a sequence of hypergraphs are the ultralimits of the local statistics of the hypergraphs. Using some standard results from model theory, we conclude that the space of (equivalence classes of) pmp hypergraphs with the topology of local-global convergence is compact, and that any countable set of local statistics for a pmp hypergraph can be realized as the statistics of a set of labellings (rather than just approximated) in a local-global equivalent hypergraph. We give two applications. First, we characterize those structures where any solution to the corresponding CSP can be turned into a measurable solution. These turn out to be the width-1 structures. We can also use the limit machinery to extract from this theorem a purely finitary characterizations of width-1 structures involving asymptotic solutions. Second, we prove two measurable versions of the Frankl--Rödl matching theorem using measurable nibble and differential equation arguments. The measurable proofs are much softer than the purely finitary results. And, we can recover the finitary theorems using the limit machinery.