1,640 research outputs found
Systemic risk in a unifying framework for cascading processes on networks
We introduce a general framework for models of cascade and contagion processes on networks, to identify their commonalities and differences. In particular, models of social and financial cascades, as well as the fiber bundle model, the voter model, and models of epidemic spreading are recovered as special cases. To unify their description, we define the net fragility of a node, which is the difference between its fragility and the threshold that determines its failure. Nodes fail if their net fragility grows above zero and their failure increases the fragility of neighbouring nodes, thus possibly triggering a cascade. In this framework, we identify three classes depending on the way the fragility of a node is increased by the failure of a neighbour. At the microscopic level, we illustrate with specific examples how the failure spreading pattern varies with the node triggering the cascade, depending on its position in the network and its degree. At the macroscopic level, systemic risk is measured as the final fraction of failed nodes, X*, and for each of the three classes we derive a recursive equation to compute its value. The phase diagram of X* as a function of the initial conditions, thus allows for a prediction of the systemic risk as well as a comparison of the three different model classes. We could identify which model class leads to a first-order phase transition in systemic risk, i.e. situations where small changes in the initial conditions determine a global failure. Eventually, we generalize our framework to encompass stochastic contagion models. This indicates the potential for further generalization
The Network of Global Corporate Control
The structure of the control network of transnational corporations affects global market competition and financial stability. So far, only small national samples were studied and there was no appropriate methodology to assess control globally. We present the first investigation of the architecture of the international ownership network, along with the computation of the control held by each global player. We find that transnational corporations form a giant bow-tie structure and that a large portion of control flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions. This core can be seen as an economic \u201csuper-entity\u201d that raises new important issues both for researchers and policy makers
Gravitational Waves from Rotating Proto-Neutron Stars
We study the effects of rotation on the quasi normal modes (QNMs) of a newly
born proto neutron star (PNS) at different evolutionary stages, until it
becomes a cold neutron star (NS). We use the
Cowling approximation, neglecting spacetime perturbations, and consider
different models of evolving PNS. The frequencies of the modes of a PNS are
considerably lower than those of a cold NS, and are further lowered by
rotation; consequently, if QNMs were excited in a sufficiently energetic
process, they would radiate waves that could be more easily detectable by
resonant-mass and interferometric detectors than those emitted by a cold NS. We
find that for high rotation rates, some of the g-modes become unstable via the
CFS instability; however, this instability is likely to be suppressed by
competing mechanisms before emitting a significant amount of gravitational
waves.Comment: 5 pages, proceedings of the 5th Edoardo Amaldi Conference On
Gravitational Wave
Credit Default Swaps Drawup Networks: Too Tied To Be Stable?
We analyse time series of CDS spreads for a set of major US and European
institutions on a pe- riod overlapping the recent financial crisis. We extend
the existing methodology of {\epsilon}-drawdowns to the one of joint
{\epsilon}-drawups, in order to estimate the conditional probabilities of
abrupt co-movements among spreads. We correct for randomness and for finite
size effects and we find significant prob- ability of joint drawups for certain
pairs of CDS. We also find significant probability of trend rein- forcement,
i.e. drawups in a given CDS followed by drawups in the same CDS. Finally, we
take the matrix of probability of joint drawups as an estimate of the network
of financial dependencies among institutions. We then carry out a network
analysis that provides insights into the role of systemically important
financial institutions.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, Supplementary informatio
Backbone of complex networks of corporations: The flow of control
We present a methodology to extract the backbone of complex networks based on
the weight and direction of links, as well as on nontopological properties of
nodes. We show how the methodology can be applied in general to networks in
which mass or energy is flowing along the links. In particular, the procedure
enables us to address important questions in economics, namely, how control and
wealth are structured and concentrated across national markets. We report on
the first cross-country investigation of ownership networks, focusing on the
stock markets of 48 countries around the world. On the one hand, our analysis
confirms results expected on the basis of the literature on corporate control,
namely, that in Anglo-Saxon countries control tends to be dispersed among
numerous shareholders. On the other hand, it also reveals that in the same
countries, control is found to be highly concentrated at the global level,
namely, lying in the hands of very few important shareholders. Interestingly,
the exact opposite is observed for European countries. These results have
previously not been reported as they are not observable without the kind of
network analysis developed here.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures, 2nd version (text made more concise and
readable, results unchanged
The price of complexity in financial networks
Financial institutions form multilayer networks by engaging in contracts with each other and by holding exposures to common assets. As a result, the default probability of one institution depends on the default probability of all of the other institutions in the network. Here, we show how small errors on the knowledge of the network of contracts can lead to large errors in the probability of systemic defaults. From the point of view of financial regulators, our findings show that the complexity of financial networks may decrease the ability to mitigate systemic risk, and thus it may increase the social cost of financial crises
Topological enslavement in evolutionary games on correlated multiplex networks
Governments and enterprises strongly rely on incentives to generate favorable
outcomes from social and strategic interactions between individuals. The
incentives are usually modeled by payoffs in evolutionary games, such as the
prisoner's dilemma or the harmony game, with imitation dynamics. Adjusting the
incentives by changing the payoff parameters can favor cooperation, as found in
the harmony game, over defection, which prevails in the prisoner's dilemma.
Here, we show that this is not always the case if individuals engage in
strategic interactions in multiple domains. In particular, we investigate
evolutionary games on multiplex networks where individuals obtain an aggregate
payoff. We explicitly control the strength of degree correlations between nodes
in the different layers of the multiplex. We find that if the multiplex is
composed of many layers and degree correlations are strong, the topology of the
system enslaves the dynamics and the final outcome, cooperation or defection,
becomes independent of the payoff parameters. The fate of the system is then
determined by the initial conditions
Silicon photomultiplier arrays - a novel photon detector for a high resolution tracker produced at FBK-irst, Italy
A silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) array has been developed at FBK-irst having
32 channels and a dimension of 8.0 x 1.1 mm^2. Each 250 um wide channel is
subdivided into 5 x 22 rectangularly arranged pixels. These sensors are
developed to read out a modular high resolution scintillating fiber tracker.
Key properties like breakdown voltage, gain and photon detection efficiency
(PDE) are found to be homogeneous over all 32 channels of an SiPM array. This
could make scintillating fiber trackers with SiPM array readout a promising
alternative to available tracker technologies, if noise properties and the PDE
are improved
Explosive cooperation in social dilemmas on higher-order networks
Understanding how cooperative behaviors can emerge from competitive interactions is an open problem in biology and social sciences. While interactions are usually modeled as pairwise networks, the units of many real-world systems can also interact in groups of three or more. Here, we introduce a general framework to extend pairwise games to higher-order networks. By studying social dilemmas on hypergraphs with a tunable structure, we find an explosive transition to cooperation triggered by a critical number of higher-order games. The associated bistable regime implies that an initial critical mass of cooperators is also required for the emergence of prosocial behavior. Our results show that higher-order interactions provide a novel explanation for the survival of cooperation
Evolution equations for slowly rotating stars
We present a hyperbolic formulation of the evolution equations describing
non-radial perturbations of slowly rotating relativistic stars in the
Regge--Wheeler gauge. We demonstrate the stability preperties of the new
evolution set of equations and compute the polar w-modes for slowly rotating
stars.Comment: 27 pages, 2 figure
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