An Exact, Linear Time Barabási-Albert Algorithm

Abstract: This paper presents the development of a new class of algorithms that accurately implement the preferential attachment mechanism of the Barab\'asi-Albert (BA) model to generate scale-free graphs. Contrary to existing approximate preferential attachment schemes, our methods are exact in terms of the proportionality of the vertex selection probabilities to their degree and run in linear time with respect to the order of the generated graph. Our algorithms utilize a series of precise, diverse, weighted and unweighted random sampling steps to engineer the desired properties of the graph generator. We analytically show that they obey the definition of the original BA model that generates scale-free graphs and discuss their higher-order properties. The proposed methods additionally include options to manipulate one dimension of control over the joint inclusion of groups of vertices.