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The rank of diluted random graphs

We investigate the rank of the adjacency matrix of large diluted random graphs: for a sequence of graphs $(G_n)_{n\geq0}$ converging locally to a Galton--Watson tree $T$ (GWT), we provide an explicit formula for the asymptotic multiplicity of the eigenvalue 0 in terms of the degree generating function $ϕ_*$ of $T$. In the first part, we show that the adjacency operator associated with $T$ is always self-adjoint; we analyze the associated spectral measure at the root and characterize the distribution of its atomic mass at 0. In the second part, we establish a sufficient condition on $ϕ_*$ for the expectation of this atomic mass to be precisely the normalized limit of the dimension of the kernel of the adjacency matrices of $(G_n)_{n\geq 0}$. Our proofs borrow ideas from analysis of algorithms, functional analysis, random matrix theory and statistical physics.