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arXiv · 2610.16572

New tools for sparse graph embeddings: Hybrid expanders and application to nested cycles

Nemanja Draganić
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Abstract

We introduce \emph{hybrid expanders}, sparse graphs which combine sublinear expansion across all scales with strong constant-factor expansion on smaller, polylogarithmic sets. We show that every $n$-vertex graph of average degree at least $2^{ω(\log^*n)}$ contains such a subgraph, and use this local expansion to bring into the sparse setting tree-embedding and rollback tools more commonly associated with random or pseudorandom graphs. As an application, for fixed $k\in\mathbb N$, we prove that every graph satisfying this average-degree condition contains $k$ pairwise edge-disjoint cycles with nested vertex sets and compatible cyclic orders, resolving up to a quasi-constant factor a problem of Thomassen, originating in work of Erdős.

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Nemanja Draganić. 2026-10-12. New tools for sparse graph embeddings: Hybrid expanders and application to nested cycles. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.16572

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