On vertex, edge, and vertex-edge random graphs

Abstract

We consider three classes of random graphs: edge random graphs, vertex random graphs, and vertex-edge random graphs. Edge random graphs are Erdos-Renyi random graphs, vertex random graphs are generalizations of geometric random graphs, and vertex-edge random graphs generalize both. The names of these three types of random graphs describe where the randomness in the models lies: in the edges, in the vertices, or in both. We show that vertex-edge random graphs, ostensibly the most general of the three models, can be approximated arbitrarily closely by vertex random graphs, but that the two categories are distinct.