Uniform generation of random graphs with power-law degree sequences

We give a linear-time algorithm that approximately uniformly generates a random simple graph with a power-law degree sequence whose exponent is at least 2.8811. While sampling graphs with power-law degree sequence of exponent at least 3 is fairly easy, and many samplers work efficiently in this case, the problem becomes dramatically more difficult when the exponent drops below 3; ours is the first provably practicable sampler for this case. We also show that with an appropriate rejection scheme, our algorithm can be tuned into an exact uniform sampler. The running time of the exact sampler is O(n^{2.107}) with high probability, and O(n^{4.081}) in expectation.Comment: 50 page

Superdiffusion in a class of networks with marginal long-range connections

A class of cubic networks composed of a regular one-dimensional lattice and a set of long-range links is introduced. Networks parametrized by a positive integer k are constructed by starting from a one-dimensional lattice and iteratively connecting each site of degree 2 with a $k$th neighboring site of degree 2. Specifying the way pairs of sites to be connected are selected, various random and regular networks are defined, all of which have a power-law edge-length distribution of the form $P_>(l)\sim l^{-s}$ with the marginal exponent s=1. In all these networks, lengths of shortest paths grow as a power of the distance and random walk is super-diffusive. Applying a renormalization group method, the corresponding shortest-path dimensions and random-walk dimensions are calculated exactly for k=1 networks and for k=2 regular networks; in other cases, they are estimated by numerical methods. Although, s=1 holds for all representatives of this class, the above quantities are found to depend on the details of the structure of networks controlled by k and other parameters.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

The mixing time of the switch Markov chains: a unified approach

Since 1997 a considerable effort has been spent to study the mixing time of switch Markov chains on the realizations of graphic degree sequences of simple graphs. Several results were proved on rapidly mixing Markov chains on unconstrained, bipartite, and directed sequences, using different mechanisms. The aim of this paper is to unify these approaches. We will illustrate the strength of the unified method by showing that on any $P$-stable family of unconstrained/bipartite/directed degree sequences the switch Markov chain is rapidly mixing. This is a common generalization of every known result that shows the rapid mixing nature of the switch Markov chain on a region of degree sequences. Two applications of this general result will be presented. One is an almost uniform sampler for power-law degree sequences with exponent $\gamma>1+\sqrt{3}$. The other one shows that the switch Markov chain on the degree sequence of an Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random graph $G(n,p)$ is asymptotically almost surely rapidly mixing if $p$ is bounded away from 0 and 1 by at least $\frac{5\log n}{n-1}$.Comment: Clarification

Distances in random graphs with finite variance degrees

In this paper we study a random graph with $N$ nodes, where node $j$ has degree $D_j$ and $\{D_j\}_{j=1}^N$ are i.i.d. with \prob(D_j\leq x)=F(x). We assume that $1-F(x)\leq c x^{-\tau+1}$ for some $\tau>3$ and some constant $c>0$. This graph model is a variant of the so-called configuration model, and includes heavy tail degrees with finite variance. The minimal number of edges between two arbitrary connected nodes, also known as the graph distance or the hopcount, is investigated when $N\to \infty$. We prove that the graph distance grows like $\log_{\nu}N$, when the base of the logarithm equals \nu=\expec[D_j(D_j -1)]/\expec[D_j]>1. This confirms the heuristic argument of Newman, Strogatz and Watts \cite{NSW00}. In addition, the random fluctuations around this asymptotic mean $\log_{\nu}{N}$ are characterized and shown to be uniformly bounded. In particular, we show convergence in distribution of the centered graph distance along exponentially growing subsequences.Comment: 40 pages, 2 figure