SuReQL: A subgraph match based relational model for large graphs

Due to the emergence of social networks and biological networks, large graph management and analysis becomes a research area with growing interests. In this paper, we study the problem of modelling large graphs. A subgraph match based relational model is designed to represent a large graph. In this model, subgraphs are considered as virtual relations; subgraph matches could be viewed as tuples; and vertices are treated as attributes. A set of relational algebra operators are defined on this model so that the model is relationally complete. An SQL-like query language, namely SuReQL, is invented to provide an easy interface to query the large graphs.