Motivated by longstanding conjectures regarding decompositions of graphs into paths and cycles, we prove the following optimal decomposition results for random graphs. Let
od=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S1571065315000578&_mathId=si1.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S1571065315000578&_rdoc=1&_issn=15710653&md5=cacadc9be951d835597cb5d956810655" title="Click to view the MathML source">0<p<1ode"> be constant and let
od=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S1571065315000578&_mathId=si2.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S1571065315000578&_rdoc=1&_issn=15710653&md5=751747cbced6a2e00355101ba35d7505" title="Click to view the MathML source">G∼Gn,pode">. Let
odd(G) be the number of
odd degree vertices in G. Then a.a.s. the following hold:
- (i)
G can be decomposed into od=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S1571065315000578&_mathId=si3.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S1571065315000578&_rdoc=1&_issn=15710653&md5=b02588354e248f0322394d945d8a0816" title="Click to view the MathML source">⌊Δ(G)/2⌋ode"> cycles and a matching of size od=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S1571065315000578&_mathId=si4.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S1571065315000578&_rdoc=1&_issn=15710653&md5=b5b5d2da5fe039ff0fd4596735a190a8" title="Click to view the MathML source">odd(G)/2ode">.
- (ii)
G can be decomposed into od=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S1571065315000578&_mathId=si5.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S1571065315000578&_rdoc=1&_issn=15710653&md5=c7507cd9b17b626b0f57a68860388296" title="Click to view the MathML source">max{odd(G)/2,⌈Δ(G)/2⌉}ode"> paths.
- (iii)
G can be decomposed into od=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S1571065315000578&_mathId=si6.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S1571065315000578&_rdoc=1&_issn=15710653&md5=702c290a9d1735c8fdc0ee1c7f35f322" title="Click to view the MathML source">⌈Δ(G)/2⌉ode"> linear forests.
Each of these bounds is best possible. We actually derive (i)–(iii) from ‘quasi-random’ versions of our results. In that context, we also determine the edge chromatic number of a given dense quasirandom graph of even order. For all these results, our main tool is a result on Hamilton decompositions of robust expanders by Kühn and Osthus.