Asymptotic enumeration and limit laws for graphs of fixed genus

Abstract

It is shown that the number of labelled graphs with n vertices that can be embedded in the orientable surface S_g of genus g grows asymptotically like $c^{(g)}n^{5(g-1)/2-1}\gamma^n n!$ where $c^{(g)}>0$, and $\gamma \approx 27.23$ is the exponential growth rate of planar graphs. This generalizes the result for the planar case g=0, obtained by Gimenez and Noy. An analogous result for non-orientable surfaces is obtained. In addition, it is proved that several parameters of interest behave asymptotically as in the planar case. It follows, in particular, that a random graph embeddable in S_g has a unique 2-connected component of linear size with high probability.