Are we there yet? When to stop a Markov chain while generating random graphs

This paper establishes a relation between scale-free networks and Markov chains, and proposes a computation framework for degree distributions of scale-free networks. We first find that, under the BA model, the degree evolution of individual nodes in a scale-free network follows some non-homogeneous Markov chains. Exploring the special structure of these Markov chains, we are able to develop an efficient algorithm to compute the degree distribution numerically. The complexity...

We analyze the properties of degree-preserving Markov chains based on elementary edge switchings in undirected and directed graphs. We give exact yet simple formulas for the mobility of a graph (the number of possible moves) in terms of its adjacency matrix. This formula allows us to define acceptance probabilities for edge switchings, such that the Markov chains become controlled Glauber-type detailed balance processes, designed to evolve to any required invariant measure (r...

The configuration model is a standard tool for uniformly generating random graphs with a specified degree sequence, and is often used as a null model to evaluate how much of an observed network's structure can be explained by its degree structure alone. A Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm, based on a degree-preserving double-edge swap, provides an asymptotic solution to sample from the configuration model. However, accurately and efficiently detecting this Markov chai...

This paper considers a Markov-modulated duplication-deletion random graph where at each time instant, one node can either join or leave the network; the probabilities of joining or leaving evolve according to the realization of a finite state Markov chain. The paper comprises of 2 results. First, motivated by social network applications, we analyze the asymptotic behavior of the degree distribution of the Markov-modulated random graph. Using the asymptotic degree distribution...

An important problem arising in the study of complex networks, for instance in community detection and motif finding, is the sampling of graphs with fixed degree sequence. The equivalent problem of generating random 0,1 matrices with fixed row and column sums is frequently used as a quantitative tool in ecology. It has however proven very challenging to design sampling algorithms that are both fast and unbiased. This article focusses on Markov chain approaches for sampling,...

Given a set of snapshots from a temporal network we develop, analyze, and experimentally validate a so-called network interpolation scheme. Our method allows us to build a plausible, albeit random, sequence of graphs that transition between any two given graphs. Importantly, our model is well characterized by a Markov chain, and we leverage this representation to analytically estimate the hitting time (to a predefined distance to the target graph) and long term behavior of ou...

We give an efficient algorithm to generate a graph from a distribution $\epsilon$-close to $G(n,p)$, in the sense of total variation distance. In particular, if $p$ is represented with $O(\log n)$-bit accuracy, then, with high probability, the running time is linear in the expected number of edges of the output graph (up to poly-logarithmic factors). All our running times include the complexity of the arithmetic involved in the corresponding algorithms. Previous standard meth...

Existing studies on the degree correlation of evolving networks typically rely on differential equations and statistical analysis, resulting in only approximate solutions due to inherent randomness. To address this limitation, we propose an improved Markov chain method for modeling degree correlation in evolving networks. By redesigning the network evolution rules to reflect actual network dynamics more accurately, we achieve a topological structure that closely matches real-...

Sampling random graphs is essential in many applications, and often algorithms use Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to sample uniformly from the space of graphs. However, often there is a need to sample graphs with some property that we are unable, or it is too inefficient, to sample using standard approaches. In this paper, we are interested in sampling graphs from a conditional ensemble of the underlying graph model. We present an algorithm to generate samples from an ensem...

We introduce a class of generative network models that insert edges by connecting the starting and terminal vertices of a random walk on the network graph. Within the taxonomy of statistical network models, this class is distinguished by permitting the location of a new edge to explicitly depend on the structure of the graph, but being nonetheless statistically and computationally tractable. In the limit of infinite walk length, the model converges to an extension of the pref...