On the tree-depth of Random Graphs

The tree–depth is a parameter introduced under several names as a measure of sparsity of a graph. We compute asymptotic values of the tree–depth of random graphs. For dense graphs, p n−1, the tree–depth of a random graph G is a.a.s. td(G) = n − O( √ n/p). Random graphs with p = c/n, have a.a.s. linear tree–depth when c > 1, the tree–depth is Θ(log n) when c = 1 and Θ(log log n) for c < 1. The result for c > 1 is derived from the computation of tree–width and provides a more direct proof of a conjecture by Gao on the linearity of tree–width recently proved by Lee, Lee and Oum [?]. We also show that, for c = 1, every width parameter is a.a.s. constant, and that random regular graphs have linear tree–depth.