"Winner takes it all": strongest node rule for evolution of scale-free networks

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2005 Sep;72(3 Pt 2):036105. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.72.036105. Epub 2005 Sep 7.

Abstract

We study a model for evolution of complex networks. We introduce information filtering for reduction of the number of available nodes to a randomly chosen sample, as a stochastic component of evolution. New nodes are attached to the nodes that have maximal degree in the sample. This is a deterministic component of network evolution process. This fact is unusual for evolution of scale-free networks and depicts a possible route for modeling network growth. We present both simulations and theoretical results for network evolution. The obtained degree distributions exhibit an obvious power-law behavior in the middle with the exponential cut off in the end. This highlights the essential characteristics of information filtering in the network growth mechanisms.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Animals
  • Biological Evolution*
  • Cell Physiological Phenomena*
  • Evolution, Molecular*
  • Gene Expression Regulation / genetics*
  • Genetics, Population*
  • Humans
  • Models, Genetic*
  • Models, Statistical
  • Signal Transduction / physiology*