Fluid dynamics meet network science: two cases of temporal network eigendecomposition
Abstract
Temporal networks, defined as sequences of time-aggregated adjacency matrices, sample latent graph dynamics and trace trajectories in graph space. By interpreting each adjacency matrix as a different time snapshot of a scalar field, fluid-mechanics theories can be applied to construct two distinct eigendecompositions of temporal networks. The first builds on the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of flowfields and decomposes the evolution of a network in terms of a basis of orthogonal network eigenmodes which are ordered in terms of their relative importance, hence enabling compression of temporal networks as well as their reconstruction from low-dimensional embeddings. The second proposes a numerical approximation of the Koopman operator, a linear operator acting on a suitable observable of the graph space which provides the best linear approximation of the latent graph dynamics. Its eigendecomposition provides a data-driven spectral description of the temporal network dynamics, in terms of dynamic modes which grow, decay or oscillate over time. Both eigendecompositions are illustrated and validated in a suite of synthetic generative models of temporal networks with varying complexity.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2509.03135,
title = {Fluid dynamics meet network science: two cases of temporal network eigendecomposition},
author = {Lucas Lacasa},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.03135},
year = {2026}
}