Hamiltonicity-to-pancyclicity sprinkling principle Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
For a decreasing probability sequence , if contains a Hamilton cycle with high probability, then is pancyclic with high probability for every fixed sufficiently large ; three independent rounds suffice. One first exposes a Hamiltonian round and uses the independent sprinkled edges to create cycles of every shorter length.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 122 3 d Solution 2026-09-28
Use sprinkling of a binomial random graph to write , where the rounds are independent,and is chosen large enough that . By the given theorem, has a Hamilton cycle with high probability.
Condition on such a cycle. For each , every chord closes one of the two paths around the Hamilton cycle into a cycle of length . There are at least distinct candidate chords, so the probability that supplies none is at mostA union bound over the fewer than lengths shows that all these cycles occur simultaneously with high probability when . The Hamilton cycle itself supplies length , so is pancyclic.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 122 1 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The sharp Hamilton cycle threshold for the Erdős-Rényi model says thatonly above the window . The hypothesis therefore places above that window. The Hamiltonicity-to-pancyclicity sprinkling principle then says that three independent rounds contain every cycle graph , , with high probability: one round supplies a Hamilton cycle, while the other two supply the chords and short-cycle edges used to obtain all intermediate lengths.
The union of the three rounds has individual edge probabilityBy the standard monotone coupling, it is a subgraph of . Since being pancyclic is an increasing graph property, the required probability tends to one. If , interpret the latter parameter as , in which case the conclusion is immediate.