Scaling in a general class of critical random Boolean networks

We investigate analytically and numerically the critical line in undirected random Boolean networks with arbitrary degree distributions, including scale-free topology of connections $P(k)\sim k^{-\gamma}$. We show that in infinite scale-free networks the transition between frozen and chaotic phase occurs for $3<\gamma < 3.5$. The observation is interesting for two reasons. First, since most of critical phenomena in scale-free networks reveal their non-trivial character for $\...

We study the Boolean dynamics of the "quenched" Kauffman models with a directed scale-free network, comparing with that of the original directed random Kauffman networks and that of the directed exponential-fluctuation networks. We have numerically investigated the distributions of the state cycle lengths and its changes as the network size $N$ and the average degree $<k>$ of nodes increase. In the relatively small network ($N \sim 150$), the median, the mean value and the st...

The Kauffman model describes a particularly simple class of random Boolean networks. Despite the simplicity of the model, it exhibits complex behavior and has been suggested as a model for real world network problems. We introduce a novel approach to analyzing attractors in random Boolean networks, and applying it to Kauffman networks we prove that the average number of attractors grows faster than any power law with system size.

We study the intrinsic properties of attractors in the Boolean dynamics in complex network with scale-free topology, comparing with those of the so-called random Kauffman networks. We have numerically investigated the frozen and relevant nodes for each attractor, and the robustness of the attractors to the perturbation that flips the state of a single node of attractors in the relatively small network ($N=30 \sim 200$). It is shown that the rate of frozen nodes in the complex...

This review explains in a self-contained way the properties of random Boolean networks and their attractors, with a special focus on critical networks. Using small example networks, analytical calculations, phenomenological arguments, and problems to solve, the basic concepts are introduced and important results concerning phase diagrams, numbers of relevant nodes and attractor properties are derived.

We introduce a numerical method to study random Boolean networks with asynchronous stochas- tic update. Each node in the network of states starts with equal occupation probability and this probability distribution then evolves to a steady state. Nodes left with finite occupation probability determine the attractors and the sizes of their basins. As for synchronous update, the basin entropy grows with system size only for critical networks, where the distribution of attractor ...

The critical Kauffman model with connectivity one is the simplest class of critical Boolean networks. Nevertheless, it exhibits intricate behavior at the boundary of order and chaos. We introduce a formalism for expressing the dynamics of multiple loops as a product of the dynamics of individual loops. Using it, we prove that the number of attractors scales as $2^m$, where $m$ is the number of nodes in loops - as fast as possible, and much faster than previously believed.

Kauffman net is a dynamical system of logical variables receiving two random inputs and each randomly assigned a boolean function. We show that the attractor and transient lengths exhibit scaleless behavior with power-law distributions over up to ten orders of magnitude. Our results provide evidence for the existence of the "edge of chaos" as a distinct phase between the ordered and chaotic regimes analogous to a critical point in statistical mechanics. The power-law distribu...

Using analytic arguments, we show that dynamical attractor periods in large critical Boolean networks are power-law distributed. Our arguments are based on the method of relevant components, which focuses on the behavior of the nodes that control the dynamics of the entire network and thus determine the attractors. Assuming that the attractor period is equal to the least common multiple of the size of all relevant components, we show that the distribution in large networks is...

This is the second paper of a series of two about the structural properties that influence the asymptotic dynamics of Random Boolean Networks. Here we study the functionally independent clusters in which the relevant elements, introduced and studied in our first paper, are subdivided. We show that the phase transition in Random Boolean Networks can also be described as a percolation transition. The statistical properties of the clusters of relevant elements (that we call modu...