1205.2909 (Tiago P. Peixoto et al.)

Evolution of robust network topologies: Emergence of central backbones    [PDF]

Tiago P. Peixoto, Stefan Bornholdt

We model the robustness against random failure or intentional attack of networks with arbitrary large-scale structure, by constructing a block-based model which incorporates - in a general fashion - both connectivity and interdependence links, as well as arbitrary degree distributions and block correlations. By optimizing the percolation properties of this class of networks, we identify a strikingly simple core-periphery structure as the topology most robust against random failure. In such networks, a distinct and small "core" of nodes with higher degree is responsible for most of the connectivity. In contrast, in the case of targeted attacks, random topologies are the most robust. When interdependence links are introduced, the same topological pattern emerges. When degree constraints are imposed, by fixing the average degrees of different blocks, the optimal topologies become fully dissortative and assortative, achieving robustness for random and targeted attacks, respectively.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.2909