68 research outputs found
Comparative analysis of two discretizations of Ricci curvature for complex networks
We have performed an empirical comparison of two distinct notions of discrete
Ricci curvature for graphs or networks, namely, the Forman-Ricci curvature and
Ollivier-Ricci curvature. Importantly, these two discretizations of the Ricci
curvature were developed based on different properties of the classical smooth
notion, and thus, the two notions shed light on different aspects of network
structure and behavior. Nevertheless, our extensive computational analysis in a
wide range of both model and real-world networks shows that the two
discretizations of Ricci curvature are highly correlated in many networks.
Moreover, we show that if one considers the augmented Forman-Ricci curvature
which also accounts for the two-dimensional simplicial complexes arising in
graphs, the observed correlation between the two discretizations is even
higher, especially, in real networks. Besides the potential theoretical
implications of these observations, the close relationship between the two
discretizations has practical implications whereby Forman-Ricci curvature can
be employed in place of Ollivier-Ricci curvature for faster computation in
larger real-world networks whenever coarse analysis suffices.Comment: Published version. New results added in this version. Supplementary
tables can be freely downloaded from the publisher websit
Using discrete Ricci curvatures to infer COVID-19 epidemic network fragility and systemic risk
The damage of the novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is reaching unprecedented scales. There are numerous classical epidemiology models trying to quantify epidemiology metrics. Usually, to forecast epidemics, classical approaches need parameter estimations, such as the contagion rate or the basic reproduction number. Here, we propose a data-driven, parameter-free, geometric approach to access the emergence of a pandemic state by studying the Forman-Ricci and Ollivier- Ricci network curvatures. Discrete Ollivier-Ricci curvature has been used successfully to forecast risk in nancial networks and we suggest that those results can provide analogous results for COVID-19 epidemic time-series. We rst compute both curvatures in a toy-model of epidemic time-series with delays, which allows us to create epidemic networks. We also compared our results to classical network metrics. By doing so, we are able to verify that the Ollivier-Ricci and Forman-Ricci curvatures can be a parameter-free estimate for identifying a pandemic state in the simulated epidemic. On this basis, we then compute both Forman-Ricci and Ollivier-Ricci curvatures for real epidemic networks built from COVID-19 epidemic time-series available at the World Health Organization (WHO). This approach allow us to detect early warning signs of the emergence of the pandemic. The advantage of our method lies in providing an early geometrical data marker for the pandemic state, regardless of parameter estimation and stochastic modelling. This work opens the possibility of using discrete geometry to study epidemic networks.
Keywords: COVID-19, SARS2, Forman-Ricci Curvature, Ollivier-Ricci curvature, Epidemiology, Topologi- cal Data Analysi
Self-Assembly of Geometric Space from Random Graphs
We present a Euclidean quantum gravity model in which random graphs
dynamically self-assemble into discrete manifold structures. Concretely, we
consider a statistical model driven by a discretisation of the Euclidean
Einstein-Hilbert action; contrary to previous approaches based on simplicial
complexes and Regge calculus our discretisation is based on the Ollivier
curvature, a coarse analogue of the manifold Ricci curvature defined for
generic graphs. The Ollivier curvature is generally difficult to evaluate due
to its definition in terms of optimal transport theory, but we present a new
exact expression for the Ollivier curvature in a wide class of relevant graphs
purely in terms of the numbers of short cycles at an edge. This result should
be of independent intrinsic interest to network theorists. Action minimising
configurations prove to be cubic complexes up to defects; there are indications
that such defects are dynamically suppressed in the macroscopic limit. Closer
examination of a defect free model shows that certain classical configurations
have a geometric interpretation and discretely approximate vacuum solutions to
the Euclidean Einstein-Hilbert action. Working in a configuration space where
the geometric configurations are stable vacua of the theory, we obtain direct
numerical evidence for the existence of a continuous phase transition; this
makes the model a UV completion of Euclidean Einstein gravity. Notably, this
phase transition implies an area-law for the entropy of emerging geometric
space. Certain vacua of the theory can be interpreted as baby universes; we
find that these configurations appear as stable vacua in a mean field
approximation of our model, but are excluded dynamically whenever the action is
exact indicating the dynamical stability of geometric space. The model is
intended as a setting for subsequent studies of emergent time mechanisms.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, 2 appendice
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