Canonical labeling of sparse random graphs

We show that if p = O(1/n), then the Erdős-Rényi random graph G(n,p) with high probability admits a canonical labeling computable in time O(nlog n). Combined with the previous results on the canonization of random graphs, this implies that G(n,p) with high probability admits a polynomial-time canonical labeling whatever the edge probability function p. Our algorithm combines the standard color refinement routine with simple post-processing based on the classical linear-time tree canonization. Noteworthy, our analysis of how well color refinement performs in this setting allows us to complete the description of the automorphism group of the 2-core of G(n,p).