SIR epidemics on random graphs with a fixed degree sequence

Let Δ > 1 be a fixed positive integer. For \begin{align*}{\textbf{ {z}}} \in \mathbb{R}_+^\Delta\end{align*} let G_z be chosen uniformly at random from the collection of graphs on ∥z∥₁n vertices that have z_in vertices of degree i for i = 1,…,Δ. We determine the likely evolution in continuous time of the SIR model for the spread of an infectious disease on G_z, starting from a single infected node. Either the disease halts after infecting only a small number of nodes, or an epidemic spreads to infect a linear number of nodes. Conditioning on the event that more than a small number of nodes are infected, the epidemic is likely to follow a trajectory given by the solution of an associated system of ordinary differential equations. These results also give the likely number of nodes infected during the course of the epidemic and the likely length in time of the epidemic. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2012