Scaling properties of complex networks: Toward Wilsonian renormalization for complex networks

Complex networks can model a range of different systems, from the human brain to social connections. Some of those networks have a large number of nodes and links, making it impractical to analyze them directly. One strategy to simplify these systems is by creating miniaturized versions of the networks that keep their main properties. A convenient tool that applies that strategy is the renormalization group (RG), a methodology used in statistical physics to change the scales ...

We study the statistical properties of observables of scale-free networks in the degree-thresholding renormalization (DTR) flows. For BA scale-free networks with different sizes, we find that their structural and dynamical observables have similar scaling behavior in the DTR flow. The finite-size scaling analysis confirms this view and reveals a scaling function with a single scaling exponent that collectively captures the changes of these observables. Furthermore, for the sc...

We present a statistical mechanics approach for the description of complex networks. We first define an energy and an entropy associated to a degree distribution which have a geometrical interpretation. Next we evaluate the distribution which extremize the free energy of the network. We find two important limiting cases: a scale-free degree distribution and a finite-scale degree distribution. The size of the space of allowed simple networks given these distribution is evaluat...

Despite their diverse origin, networks of large real-world systems reveal a number of common properties including small-world phenomena, scale-free degree distributions and modularity. Recently, network self-similarity as a natural outcome of the evolution of real-world systems has also attracted much attention within the physics literature. Here we investigate the scaling of density in complex networks under two classical box-covering renormalizations-network coarse-graining...

At the eight-year anniversary of Watts & Strogatz's work on the collective dynamics of small-world networks and seven years after Barabasi & Albert's discovery of scale-free networks, the area of dynamical processes on complex networks is at the forefront of the current research on nonlinear dynamics and complex systems. This volume brings together a selection of original contributions in complementary topics of statistical physics, nonlinear dynamics and biological sciences,...

What is a complex network? How do we characterize complex networks? Which systems can be studied from a network approach? In this text, we motivate the use of complex networks to study and understand a broad panoply of systems, ranging from physics and biology to economy and sociology. Using basic tools from statistical physics, we will characterize the main types of networks found in nature. Moreover, the most recent trends in network research will be briefly discussed.

The Renormalization Group is crucial for understanding systems across scales, including complex networks. Renormalizing networks via network geometry, a framework in which their topology is based on the location of nodes in a hidden metric space, is one of the foundational approaches. However, the current methods assume that the geometric coupling is strong, neglecting weak coupling in many real networks. This paper extends renormalization to weak geometric coupling, showing ...

Complex networks describe a wide range of systems in nature and society, much quoted examples including the cell, a network of chemicals linked by chemical reactions, or the Internet, a network of routers and computers connected by physical links. While traditionally these systems were modeled as random graphs, it is increasingly recognized that the topology and evolution of real networks is governed by robust organizing principles. Here we review the recent advances in the f...

We propose a renormalization group treatment of stochastically growing networks. As an example, we study percolation on growing scale-free networks in the framework of a real-space renormalization group approach. As a result, we find that the critical behavior of percolation on the growing networks differs from that in uncorrelated nets.

A new method called diffusion factorial moment (DFM) is used to obtain scaling features embedded in spectra of complex networks. For an Erdos-Renyi network with connecting probability $p_{ER} < \frac{1}{N}$, the scaling parameter is $\delta = 0.51$, while for $p_{ER} \ge \frac{1}{N}$ the scaling parameter deviates from it significantly. For WS small-world networks, in the special region $p_r \in [0.05,0.2]$, typical scale invariance is found. For GRN networks, in the range of...