189,105 research outputs found
Dynamic Exploration of Networks: from general principles to the traceroute process
Dynamical processes taking place on real networks define on them evolving
subnetworks whose topology is not necessarily the same of the underlying one.
We investigate the problem of determining the emerging degree distribution,
focusing on a class of tree-like processes, such as those used to explore the
Internet's topology. A general theory based on mean-field arguments is
proposed, both for single-source and multiple-source cases, and applied to the
specific example of the traceroute exploration of networks. Our results provide
a qualitative improvement in the understanding of dynamical sampling and of the
interplay between dynamics and topology in large networks like the Internet.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure
The statistical mechanics of networks
We study the family of network models derived by requiring the expected
properties of a graph ensemble to match a given set of measurements of a
real-world network, while maximizing the entropy of the ensemble. Models of
this type play the same role in the study of networks as is played by the
Boltzmann distribution in classical statistical mechanics; they offer the best
prediction of network properties subject to the constraints imposed by a given
set of observations. We give exact solutions of models within this class that
incorporate arbitrary degree distributions and arbitrary but independent edge
probabilities. We also discuss some more complex examples with correlated edges
that can be solved approximately or exactly by adapting various familiar
methods, including mean-field theory, perturbation theory, and saddle-point
expansions.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
The structure and function of complex networks
Inspired by empirical studies of networked systems such as the Internet,
social networks, and biological networks, researchers have in recent years
developed a variety of techniques and models to help us understand or predict
the behavior of these systems. Here we review developments in this field,
including such concepts as the small-world effect, degree distributions,
clustering, network correlations, random graph models, models of network growth
and preferential attachment, and dynamical processes taking place on networks.Comment: Review article, 58 pages, 16 figures, 3 tables, 429 references,
published in SIAM Review (2003
Critical phenomena in complex networks
The combination of the compactness of networks, featuring small diameters,
and their complex architectures results in a variety of critical effects
dramatically different from those in cooperative systems on lattices. In the
last few years, researchers have made important steps toward understanding the
qualitatively new critical phenomena in complex networks. We review the
results, concepts, and methods of this rapidly developing field. Here we mostly
consider two closely related classes of these critical phenomena, namely
structural phase transitions in the network architectures and transitions in
cooperative models on networks as substrates. We also discuss systems where a
network and interacting agents on it influence each other. We overview a wide
range of critical phenomena in equilibrium and growing networks including the
birth of the giant connected component, percolation, k-core percolation,
phenomena near epidemic thresholds, condensation transitions, critical
phenomena in spin models placed on networks, synchronization, and
self-organized criticality effects in interacting systems on networks. We also
discuss strong finite size effects in these systems and highlight open problems
and perspectives.Comment: Review article, 79 pages, 43 figures, 1 table, 508 references,
extende
Evolution of networks
We review the recent fast progress in statistical physics of evolving
networks. Interest has focused mainly on the structural properties of random
complex networks in communications, biology, social sciences and economics. A
number of giant artificial networks of such a kind came into existence
recently. This opens a wide field for the study of their topology, evolution,
and complex processes occurring in them. Such networks possess a rich set of
scaling properties. A number of them are scale-free and show striking
resilience against random breakdowns. In spite of large sizes of these
networks, the distances between most their vertices are short -- a feature
known as the ``small-world'' effect. We discuss how growing networks
self-organize into scale-free structures and the role of the mechanism of
preferential linking. We consider the topological and structural properties of
evolving networks, and percolation in these networks. We present a number of
models demonstrating the main features of evolving networks and discuss current
approaches for their simulation and analytical study. Applications of the
general results to particular networks in Nature are discussed. We demonstrate
the generic connections of the network growth processes with the general
problems of non-equilibrium physics, econophysics, evolutionary biology, etc.Comment: 67 pages, updated, revised, and extended version of review, submitted
to Adv. Phy
A minimal model for congestion phenomena on complex networks
We study a minimal model of traffic flows in complex networks, simple enough
to get analytical results, but with a very rich phenomenology, presenting
continuous, discontinuous as well as hybrid phase transitions between a
free-flow phase and a congested phase, critical points and different scaling
behaviors in the system size. It consists of random walkers on a queueing
network with one-range repulsion, where particles can be destroyed only if they
can move. We focus on the dependence on the topology as well as on the level of
traffic control. We are able to obtain transition curves and phase diagrams at
analytical level for the ensemble of uncorrelated networks and numerically for
single instances. We find that traffic control improves global performance,
enlarging the free-flow region in parameter space only in heterogeneous
networks. Traffic control introduces non-linear effects and, beyond a critical
strength, may trigger the appearance of a congested phase in a discontinuous
manner. The model also reproduces the cross-over in the scaling of traffic
fluctuations empirically observed in the Internet, and moreover, a conserved
version can reproduce qualitatively some stylized facts of traffic in
transportation networks
Networking - A Statistical Physics Perspective
Efficient networking has a substantial economic and societal impact in a
broad range of areas including transportation systems, wired and wireless
communications and a range of Internet applications. As transportation and
communication networks become increasingly more complex, the ever increasing
demand for congestion control, higher traffic capacity, quality of service,
robustness and reduced energy consumption require new tools and methods to meet
these conflicting requirements. The new methodology should serve for gaining
better understanding of the properties of networking systems at the macroscopic
level, as well as for the development of new principled optimization and
management algorithms at the microscopic level. Methods of statistical physics
seem best placed to provide new approaches as they have been developed
specifically to deal with non-linear large scale systems. This paper aims at
presenting an overview of tools and methods that have been developed within the
statistical physics community and that can be readily applied to address the
emerging problems in networking. These include diffusion processes, methods
from disordered systems and polymer physics, probabilistic inference, which
have direct relevance to network routing, file and frequency distribution, the
exploration of network structures and vulnerability, and various other
practical networking applications.Comment: (Review article) 71 pages, 14 figure
A stochastic model for the evolution of the web allowing link deletion
Recently several authors have proposed stochastic evolutionary models for the growth of the web graph and other networks that give rise to power-law distributions. These models are based on the notion of preferential attachment leading to the ``rich get richer'' phenomenon. We present a generalisation of the basic model by allowing deletion of individual links and show that it also gives rise to a power-law distribution. We derive the mean-field equations for this stochastic model and show that by examining a snapshot of the distribution at the steady state of the model, we are able to tell whether any link deletion has taken place and estimate the link deletion probability. Our model enables us to gain some insight into the distribution of inlinks in the web graph, in particular it suggests a power-law exponent of approximately 2.15 rather than the widely published exponent of 2.1
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