Self-avoiding walk generating function ($Z_v(x)={\sum }_{n\ge 0}{\sigma }_n(v)x^n$)

The generating function weights each self-avoiding walk by $x$ to the power of its length, including the zero-length walk. Its radius of convergence is the reciprocal of the upper exponential growth rate of the rooted counts, by the Cauchy-Hadamard theorem.

In a bipartite graph, a self-avoiding walk ends in its starting class exactly when it has even length. If degrees are bounded by $\Delta$, deleting the last edge gives ${\sigma }_{2k+1}\le \Delta {\sigma }_{2k}$ and hence $Z_G^0(x)\le Z_G(x)\le (1+\Delta x)Z_G^0(x)$ for $x\ge 0$. Thus these generating functions have the same radius of convergence.

Replace every degree-three vertex of a graph in one class of a bipartite graph by a triangle with one port for each incident edge. A self-avoiding walk whose endpoints remain in the other class cannot make two completed passages through the same triangle: each passage needs two unused ports and only three exist. Each old two-edge passage has exactly two replacements, of lengths three and four. Therefore the restricted generating functions satisfy $Z_H^0(x)=Z_G^0(\sqrt{x^3+x^4})$. If the old radius is $1/\mu$, the new radius obeys ${\rho }^3+{\rho }^4={\mu }^{-2}$.