English

Percolation of a general network of networks

Physics and Society 2014-01-07 v1 Statistical Mechanics Computational Physics

Abstract

Percolation theory is an approach to study vulnerability of a system. We develop analytical framework and analyze percolation properties of a network composed of interdependent networks (NetONet). Typically, percolation of a single network shows that the damage in the network due to a failure is a continuous function of the fraction of failed nodes. In sharp contrast, in NetONet, due to the cascading failures, the percolation transition may be discontinuous and even a single node failure may lead to abrupt collapse of the system. We demonstrate our general framework for a NetONet composed of nn classic Erd\H{o}s-R\'{e}nyi (ER) networks, where each network depends on the same number mm of other networks, i.e., a random regular network of interdependent ER networks. In contrast to a \emph{treelike} NetONet in which the size of the largest connected cluster (mutual component) depends on nn, the loops in the RR NetONet cause the largest connected cluster to depend only on mm. We also analyzed the extremely vulnerable feedback condition of coupling. In the case of ER networks, the NetONet only exhibits two phases, a second order phase transition and collapse, and there is no first phase transition regime unlike the no feedback condition. In the case of NetONet composed of RR networks, there exists a first order phase transition when qq is large and second order phase transition when qq is small. Our results can help in designing robust interdependent systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1306.3416,
  title  = {Percolation of a general network of networks},
  author = {Jianxi Gao and Sergey V. Buldyrev and H. Eugene Stanley and Xiaoming Xu and Shlomo Havlin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1306.3416},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

31 pages, 12 figures