Growth and Optimality in Network Evolution

In this paper we investigate networks whose evolution is governed by the interaction of a random assembly process and an optimization process. In the first process, new nodes are added one at a time and form connections to randomly selected old nodes. In between node additions, the network is rewired to minimize its pathlength. For timescales, at which neither the assembly nor the optimization processes are dominant, we find a rich variety of complex networks with power law tails in the degree distributions. These networks also exhibit non-trivial clustering, a hierarchical organization and interesting degree mixing patterns.