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Expanding graph


In combinatorics, an expander graph is a sparse graph that has strong connectivity properties, quantified using vertex, edge or spectral expansion as described below. Expander constructions have spawned research in pure and applied mathematics, with several applications to complexity theory, design of robust computer networks, and the theory of error-correcting codes.

Intuitively, an expander is a finite, undirected multigraph in which every subset of the vertices that is not "too large" has a "large" boundary. Different formalisations of these notions give rise to different notions of expanders: edge expanders, vertex expanders, and spectral expanders, as defined below.

A disconnected graph is not an expander, since the boundary of a connected component is empty. Every connected graph is an expander; however, different connected graphs have different expansion parameters. The complete graph has the best expansion property, but it has largest possible degree. Informally, a graph is a good expander if it has low degree and high expansion parameters.

The edge expansion (also isoperimetric number or Cheeger constant) h(G) of a graph G on n vertices is defined as

where


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