Bounded-degree graphs of non-negative Ollivier-Ricci curvature have subexponential growth and diffusive random walk

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Main Authors: Hutchcroft, Tom, Münch, Florentin
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Hutchcroft, Tom
Münch, Florentin
author_facet Hutchcroft, Tom
Münch, Florentin
contents We study the geometric properties of graphs with non-negative Ollivier-Ricci curvature, a discrete analogue of non-negative Ricci curvature in Riemannian geometry. We prove that for each $d<\infty$ there exists a constant $C_d$ such that if $G=(V,E)$ is a finite graph with non-negative Ollivier-Ricci curvature and with degrees bounded by $d$ then the average log-volume growth and random walk displacement satisfy \[ \frac{1}{|V|} \sum_{x\in V} \log \#B(x,r) \leq \exp\left[C_d \sqrt{\log r}\right] = r^{o(1)} \] and \[ \frac{1}{|V|} \sum_{x\in V} \mathbf{E}_x [d(X_0,X_n)^2] \leq n \exp\left[C_d \sqrt{\log n}\right] = n^{1+o(1)} \] for every $n,r\geq 2$. This significantly strengthens a result of Salez (GAFA 2022), who proved that the average displacement of the random walk is $o(n)$ and deduced that non-negatively curved graphs of bounded degree cannot be expanders. Our results also apply to infinite transitive graphs and, more generally, to bounded-degree unimodular random rooted graphs of non-negative Ollivier-Ricci curvature.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_03968
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Bounded-degree graphs of non-negative Ollivier-Ricci curvature have subexponential growth and diffusive random walk
Hutchcroft, Tom
Münch, Florentin
Differential Geometry
Combinatorics
Metric Geometry
Probability
We study the geometric properties of graphs with non-negative Ollivier-Ricci curvature, a discrete analogue of non-negative Ricci curvature in Riemannian geometry. We prove that for each $d<\infty$ there exists a constant $C_d$ such that if $G=(V,E)$ is a finite graph with non-negative Ollivier-Ricci curvature and with degrees bounded by $d$ then the average log-volume growth and random walk displacement satisfy \[ \frac{1}{|V|} \sum_{x\in V} \log \#B(x,r) \leq \exp\left[C_d \sqrt{\log r}\right] = r^{o(1)} \] and \[ \frac{1}{|V|} \sum_{x\in V} \mathbf{E}_x [d(X_0,X_n)^2] \leq n \exp\left[C_d \sqrt{\log n}\right] = n^{1+o(1)} \] for every $n,r\geq 2$. This significantly strengthens a result of Salez (GAFA 2022), who proved that the average displacement of the random walk is $o(n)$ and deduced that non-negatively curved graphs of bounded degree cannot be expanders. Our results also apply to infinite transitive graphs and, more generally, to bounded-degree unimodular random rooted graphs of non-negative Ollivier-Ricci curvature.
title Bounded-degree graphs of non-negative Ollivier-Ricci curvature have subexponential growth and diffusive random walk
topic Differential Geometry
Combinatorics
Metric Geometry
Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.03968