On the $\ell^2$ distortion of random triangulations

Abstract

For each $n \in \mathbf{N}$, let $T_n$ be a uniformly random (rooted, Type I) triangulation of the sphere with $n$ vertices, viewed as a metric space equipped with its graph distance. We show that for every $δ>0$, with probability tending to $1$ as $n \to \infty$, every embedding of $T_n$ into a separable Hilbert space has distortion at least $(\log n)^{1/4-δ}$.