On topological minors in random simplicial complexes

For random graphs, the containment problem considers the probability that a binomial random graph G(n, p) contains a given graph as a substructure. When asking for the graph as a topological minor, i.e., for a copy of a subdivision of the given graph, it is well known that the (sharp) threshold is at p = 1/n. We consider a natural analogue of this question for higher-dimensional random complexes Xk(n, p), first studied by Cohen, Costa, Farber and Kappeler for k = 2. Improving previous results, we show that p = Θ(1/ √n) is the (coarse) threshold for containing a subdivision of any fixed complete 2-complex. For higher dimensions k > 2, we get that p = O(n−1/k) is an upper bound for the threshold probability of containing a subdivision of a fixed k-dimensional complex.