Finding Large Expanders in Graphs: from Topological Minors to Induced Subgraphs

Baptiste Louf, Fiona Skerman

Abstract: In this paper, we consider a structural and geometric property of graphs, namely the presence of large expanders. The problem of finding such structures was first considered by Krivelevich [SIAM J. Disc. Math. 32 1 (2018)]. Here, we show that the problem of finding a large induced subgraph that is an expander can be reduced to the simpler problem of finding a large topological minor that is an expander. Our proof is constructive, which is helpful in an algorithmic setting. We also show that every large subgraph of an expander graph contains a large subgraph which is itself an expander.