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For a fixed set $L$ of $\lfloor \sqrt{n}\rfloor$ vertices, let ${\tau }_L$ be the first step at which they all belong to one graph component. In the uniform random graph process, ${\tau }_L$ lies between $n(\log n-\omega )/4$ and $n(\log n+\omega )/4$ with high probability for every $\omega \to \infty$. Below that scale the marked isolated vertex count has divergent expected value and small relative variance. Above it the logarithmic-regime giant component misses $o(\sqrt{n})$ vertices; exchangeability and a union bound show that none are marked. The label coupling then transfers the two assertions to the process.

It suffices to prove the assertion after replacing $\omega$ by $\min \{\omega ,\sqrt{\log n}\}$: that replacement gives a tighter interval. Thus assume $\omega \to \infty$ and $\omega =o(\log n)$, and putAt $p_{-}$, let $J$ count isolated vertices in $L$. The same indicator random variable calculation as for all isolated vertices givesBy the Chebyshev inequality, $J>0$ with high probability. Since $\ell \ge 2$ eventually, the marked vertices are then not all connected.

At $p_{+}$, the logarithmic-regime giant component result applies with $k=2$ and any fixed ${\gamma }_0\in (1/3,1/2)$. Its unique giant component misses $(1+o(1))n^{1/2}{e}^{-\omega /4}$ vertices. On the event that it misses at most twice that number, exchangeability makes the missed vertex set uniform conditional on its size. A union bound therefore givesThus all of $L$ is connected at $p_{+}$ with high probability.

For the uniform random graph process, assign uniform labels to the edges of the complete graph as independent random variables and reveal them in label order. The binomial random graph $G(n,p)$ is the prefix containing the $M(p)$ labels at most $p$, where $M(p)$ has a binomial distribution with parameters $N=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{n}{2}\right)$ and $p$. Its variance at $p_{\pm }$ is $O(n\log n)$, whereas the gap between $\mathbb{E}M(p_{\pm })$ and the relevant endpoint $m_{\pm }$ is $(1+o(1))\omega n/8$. The Chebyshev inequality gives $M(p_{-})\ge m_{-}$ and $M(p_{+})\le m_{+}$ with high probability, with harmless integer rounding. The monotone graph property that all marked vertices are connected now impliesThe marked-set connectivity threshold is lower than the threshold for connecting every vertex, because only about $\sqrt{n}$ specified vertices need to avoid the small graph components.