Emergency of Tsallis statistics in fractal networks

PLoS One. 2021 Sep 29;16(9):e0257855. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257855. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Scale-free networks constitute a fast-developing field that has already provided us with important tools to understand natural and social phenomena. From biological systems to environmental modifications, from quantum fields to high energy collisions, or from the number of contacts one person has, on average, to the flux of vehicles in the streets of urban centres, all these complex, non-linear problems are better understood under the light of the scale-free network's properties. A few mechanisms have been found to explain the emergence of scale invariance in complex networks, and here we discuss a mechanism based on the way information is locally spread among agents in a scale-free network. We show that the correct description of the information dynamics is given in terms of the q-exponential function, with the power-law behaviour arising in the asymptotic limit. This result shows that the best statistical approach to the information dynamics is given by Tsallis Statistics. We discuss the main properties of the information spreading process in the network and analyse the role and behaviour of some of the parameters as the number of agents increases. The different mechanisms for optimization of the information spread are discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Fractals*
  • Humans
  • Models, Statistical
  • Neural Networks, Computer

Grants and funding

AD, grant 304244/2018-0, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, http://www.cnpq.br, did not play any role in the design, analysis, prepration or submission of the work. AD, grant 2016/17612-7, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, https://fapesp.br, did not play any role in the design, analysis, prepration or submission of the work.