18,369 research outputs found
Minimal Connectivity
A k-connected graph such that deleting any edge / deleting any vertex /
contracting any edge results in a graph which is not k-connected is called
minimally / critically / contraction-critically k-connected. These three
classes play a prominent role in graph connectivity theory, and we give a brief
introduction with a light emphasis on reduction- and construction theorems for
classes of k-connected graphs.Comment: IMADA-preprint-math, 33 page
Organic Design of Massively Distributed Systems: A Complex Networks Perspective
The vision of Organic Computing addresses challenges that arise in the design
of future information systems that are comprised of numerous, heterogeneous,
resource-constrained and error-prone components or devices. Here, the notion
organic particularly highlights the idea that, in order to be manageable, such
systems should exhibit self-organization, self-adaptation and self-healing
characteristics similar to those of biological systems. In recent years, the
principles underlying many of the interesting characteristics of natural
systems have been investigated from the perspective of complex systems science,
particularly using the conceptual framework of statistical physics and
statistical mechanics. In this article, we review some of the interesting
relations between statistical physics and networked systems and discuss
applications in the engineering of organic networked computing systems with
predictable, quantifiable and controllable self-* properties.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, preprint of submission to Informatik-Spektrum
published by Springe
Distinguishing Infections on Different Graph Topologies
The history of infections and epidemics holds famous examples where
understanding, containing and ultimately treating an outbreak began with
understanding its mode of spread. Influenza, HIV and most computer viruses,
spread person to person, device to device, through contact networks; Cholera,
Cancer, and seasonal allergies, on the other hand, do not. In this paper we
study two fundamental questions of detection: first, given a snapshot view of a
(perhaps vanishingly small) fraction of those infected, under what conditions
is an epidemic spreading via contact (e.g., Influenza), distinguishable from a
"random illness" operating independently of any contact network (e.g., seasonal
allergies); second, if we do have an epidemic, under what conditions is it
possible to determine which network of interactions is the main cause of the
spread -- the causative network -- without any knowledge of the epidemic, other
than the identity of a minuscule subsample of infected nodes?
The core, therefore, of this paper, is to obtain an understanding of the
diagnostic power of network information. We derive sufficient conditions
networks must satisfy for these problems to be identifiable, and produce
efficient, highly scalable algorithms that solve these problems. We show that
the identifiability condition we give is fairly mild, and in particular, is
satisfied by two common graph topologies: the grid, and the Erdos-Renyi graphs
The essence of P2P: A reference architecture for overlay networks
The success of the P2P idea has created a huge diversity
of approaches, among which overlay networks, for example,
Gnutella, Kazaa, Chord, Pastry, Tapestry, P-Grid, or DKS,
have received specific attention from both developers and
researchers. A wide variety of algorithms, data structures,
and architectures have been proposed. The terminologies
and abstractions used, however, have become quite inconsistent since the P2P paradigm has attracted people from many different communities, e.g., networking, databases, distributed systems, graph theory, complexity theory, biology, etc. In this paper we propose a reference model for overlay networks which is capable of modeling different approaches in this domain in a generic manner. It is intended to allow researchers and users to assess the properties of concrete systems, to establish a common vocabulary for scientific discussion, to facilitate the qualitative comparison of the systems, and to serve as the basis for defining a standardized API to make overlay networks interoperable
Recent progress on the combinatorial diameter of polytopes and simplicial complexes
The Hirsch conjecture, posed in 1957, stated that the graph of a
-dimensional polytope or polyhedron with facets cannot have diameter
greater than . The conjecture itself has been disproved, but what we
know about the underlying question is quite scarce. Most notably, no polynomial
upper bound is known for the diameters that were conjectured to be linear. In
contrast, no polyhedron violating the conjecture by more than 25% is known.
This paper reviews several recent attempts and progress on the question. Some
work in the world of polyhedra or (more often) bounded polytopes, but some try
to shed light on the question by generalizing it to simplicial complexes. In
particular, we include here our recent and previously unpublished proof that
the maximum diameter of arbitrary simplicial complexes is in and
we summarize the main ideas in the polymath 3 project, a web-based collective
effort trying to prove an upper bound of type nd for the diameters of polyhedra
and of more general objects (including, e. g., simplicial manifolds).Comment: 34 pages. This paper supersedes one cited as "On the maximum diameter
of simplicial complexes and abstractions of them, in preparation
- …