Statistical Complexity of Heterogeneous Geometric Networks

Abstract

Heterogeneity and geometry are key explanatory components underlying the structure of real-world networks. The relationship between these components and the statistical complexity of networks is not well understood. We introduce a parsimonious normalised measure of statistical complexity for networks -- normalised hierarchical complexity. The measure is trivially 0 in regular graphs and we prove that this measure tends to 0 in Erd\"os-R\'enyi random graphs in the thermodynamic limit. We go on to demonstrate that greater complexity arises from the combination of hierarchical and geometric components to the network structure than either on their own. Further, the levels of complexity achieved are similar to those found in many real-world networks. We also find that real world networks establish connections in a way which increases hierarchical complexity and which our null models and a range of attachment mechanisms fail to explain. This underlines the non-trivial nature of statistical complexity in real-world networks and provides foundations for the comparative analysis of network complexity within and across disciplines.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure