Strong couplings for static locally tree-like random graphs

Abstract: The goal of this paper is to provide a general purpose result for the coupling of exploration processes of random graphs, both undirected and directed, with their local weak limits when this limit is a marked Galton-Watson process. This class includes in particular the configuration model and the family of inhomogeneous random graphs with rank-1 kernel. Vertices in the graph are allowed to have attributes on a general separable metric space and can potentially influence the construction of the graph itself. The coupling holds for any fixed depth of a breadth-first exploration process.