Modeling the evolution of weighted networks

We review the recent fast progress in statistical physics of evolving networks. Interest has focused mainly on the structural properties of random complex networks in communications, biology, social sciences and economics. A number of giant artificial networks of such a kind came into existence recently. This opens a wide field for the study of their topology, evolution, and complex processes occurring in them. Such networks possess a rich set of scaling properties. A number ...

We introduce the notion of globally updating evolution for a class of weighted networks, in which the weight of a link is characterized by the amount of data packet transport flowing through it. By noting that the packet transport over the network is determined nonlocally, this approach can explain the generic nonlinear scaling between the strength and the degree of a node. We demonstrate by a simple model that the strength-driven evolution scheme recently introduced can be g...

Motivated by a recently introduced network growth mechanism that rely on the ranking of node prestige measures [S. Fortunato \emph{et al}., Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{96}, 218701 (2006)], a rank-based model for weighted network evolution is studied. The evolution rule of the network is based on the ranking of node strength, which couples the topological growth and the weight dynamics. Both analytical solutions and numerical simulations show that the generated networks possess s...

We propose a geometric growth model for weighted scale-free networks, which is controlled by two tunable parameters. We derive exactly the main characteristics of the networks, which are partially determined by the parameters. Analytical results indicate that the resulting networks have power-law distributions of degree, strength, weight and betweenness, a scale-free behavior for degree correlations, logarithmic small average path length and diameter with network size. The ob...

Topology and weights are closely related in weighted complex networks and this is reflected in their modular structure. We present a simple network model where the weights are generated dynamically and they shape the developing topology. By tuning a model parameter governing the importance of weights, the resulting networks undergo a gradual structural transition from a module free topology to one with communities. The model also reproduces many features of large social netwo...

We discuss a newly proposed model by Barrat et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 228701, 2004) for weighted evolving networks and suggest yet another model which can be viewed in the framework of worldwide airport network as "busy airports get busier".

Complex networks as the World Wide Web, the web of human sexual contacts or criminal networks often do not have an engineered architecture but instead are self-organized by the actions of a large number of individuals. From these local interactions non-trivial global phenomena can emerge as small-world properties or scale-free degree distributions. A simple model for the evolution of acquaintance networks highlights the essential dynamical ingredients necessary to obtain such...

Although the origin of the fat-tail characteristic of the degree distribution in complex networks has been extensively researched, the underlying cause of the degree distribution characteristic across the complete range of degrees remains obscure. Here, we propose an evolution model that incorporates only two factors: the node's weight, reflecting its innate attractiveness (nature), and the node's degree, reflecting the external influences (nurture). The proposed model provid...

In most networks, the connection between a pair of nodes is the result of their mutual affinity and attachment. In this letter, we will propose a Mutual Attraction Model to characterize weighted evolving networks. By introducing the initial attractiveness $A$ and the general mechanism of mutual attraction (controlled by parameter $m$), the model can naturally reproduce scale-free distributions of degree, weight and strength, as found in many real systems. Simulation results a...

We introduce a new framework for the analysis of the dynamics of networks, based on randomly reinforced urn (RRU) processes, in which the weight of the edges is determined by a reinforcement mechanism. We rigorously explain the empirical evidence that in many real networks there is a subset of "dominant edges" that control a major share of the total weight of the network. Furthermore, we introduce a new statistical procedure to study the evolution of networks over time, asses...