Kauffman networks with threshold functions

The Kauffman model describes a system of randomly connected nodes with dynamics based on Boolean update functions. Though it is a simple model, it exhibits very complex behavior for "critical" parameter values at the boundary between a frozen and a disordered phase, and is therefore used for studies of real network problems. We prove here that the mean number and mean length of attractors in critical random Boolean networks with connectivity one both increase faster than any ...

We consider a model for gene regulatory networks that is a modification of Kauffmann's (1969) random Boolean networks. There are three parameters: $n =$ the number of nodes, $r =$ the number of inputs to each node, and $p =$ the expected fraction of 1's in the Boolean functions at each node. Following a standard practice in the physics literature, we use a threshold contact process on a random graph on $n$ nodes, in which each node has in degree $r$, to approximate its dynami...

We show that to correctly describe the position of the critical line in the Kauffman random boolean networks one must take into account percolation phenomena underlying the process of damage spreading. For this reason, since the issue of percolation transition is much simpler in random undirected networks, than in the directed ones, we study the Kauffman model in undirected networks. We derive the mean field formula for the critical line in the giant component of these networ...

This paper has been withdrawn.

We obtain the phase diagram of random Boolean networks with nested canalizing functions. Using the annealed approximation, we obtain the evolution of the number $b_t$ of nodes with value one, and the network sensitivity $\lambda$, and we compare with numerical simulations of quenched networks. We find that, contrary to what was reported by Kauffman et al. [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2004 101 49 17102-7], these networks have a rich phase diagram, were both the "chaotic" and frozen...

We discuss the complex dynamics of a non-linear random networks model, as a function of the connectivity k between the elements of the network. We show that this class of networks exhibit an order-chaos phase transition for a critical connectivity k = 2. Also, we show that both, pairwise correlation and complexity measures are maximized in dynamically critical networks. These results are in good agreement with the previously reported studies on random Boolean networks and ran...

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 calculate analytically the critical connectivity $K_c$ of Random Threshold Networks (RTN) for homogeneous and inhomogeneous thresholds, and confirm the results by numerical simulations. We find a super-linear increase of $K_c$ with the (average) absolute threshold $|h|$, which approaches $K_c(|h|) \sim h^2/(2\ln{|h|})$ for large $|h|$, and show that this asymptotic scaling is universal for RTN with Poissonian distributed connectivity and threshold distributions with a vari...

We study two types of simple Boolean networks, namely two loops with a cross-link and one loop with an additional internal link. Such networks occur as relevant components of critical K=2 Kauffman networks. We determine mostly analytically the numbers and lengths of cycles of these networks and find many of the features that have been observed in Kauffman networks. In particular, the mean number and length of cycles can diverge faster than any power law.

Complexity theory as practiced by physicists and computational complexity theory as practiced by computer scientists both characterize how difficult it is to solve complex problems. Here it is shown that the parameters of a specific model can be adjusted so that the problem of finding its global energy minimum is extremely sensitive to small changes in the problem statement. This result has implications not only for studies of the physics of random systems but may also lead t...