Generating random regular graphs

Random regular graphs play a central role in combinatorics and theoretical computer science. In this paper, we analyze a simple algorithm introduced by Steger and Wormald [9] and prove that it produces an asymptotically uniform random regular graph in a polynomial time. Precisely, for fixed d and n with d=O(n1/3-e), it is shown that the algorithm generates an asymptotically uniform random d-regular graph on n vertices in time O(nd2). This confirms a conjecture of Wormald. The key ingredient in the proof is a recently developed concentration inequality by the second author.Besides being perhaps the only algorithm which works for relatively large d in practical time, our result also has a significant theoretical value, as it can be used to derive many properties of uniform random regular graphs.