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Abstract

This article considers embeddings of bounded degree graphs into general metric spaces. Our first main result is a metric analogue of Matou\v{s}ek's extrapolation that relates the Poincar\'e constants $\gamma(G,\varrho^p)$ and $\gamma(G,\varrho^q)$ for any pair of exponents $0 < p,q < \infty$, any bounded degree expander graph $G$, and any metric space $\mathcal{M}=(M,\varrho)$. Our second main result provides a sharp estimate of the Poincar\'e constant $\gamma(G,\varrho)$ in terms of the cardinalities of the vertex set of $G$ and the target metric space $\mathcal{M}=(M,\varrho)$, in the setting of \textit{random} graphs. Both theorems utilize a novel structural dichotomy for metric embeddings of graphs. These results lead to the resolution of several problems within the theory of metric embeddings. Among the applications are estimates on the nonlinear spectral gap of metric snowflakes, optimal estimates on the minimum cardinality of (bi-Lipschitz) universal metric spaces for graphs, and sharp lower bounds on the bi-Lipschitz distortion of random regular graphs into arbitrary metric spaces of large cardinality.