Social Networks and Spin Glasses
Social and Information Networks
2011-11-02 v3 Computers and Society
Abstract
The networks formed from the links between telephones observed in a month's call detail records (CDRs) in the UK are analyzed, looking for the characteristics thought to identify a communications network or a social network. Some novel methods are employed. We find similarities to both types of network. We conclude that, just as analogies to spin glasses have proved fruitful for optimization of large scale practical problems, there will be opportunities to exploit a statistical mechanics of the formation and dynamics of social networks in today's electronically connected world.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1008.1357,
title = {Social Networks and Spin Glasses},
author = {Scott Kirkpatrick and Alex Kulakovsky and Manuel Cebrian and Alex Pentland},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1008.1357},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
18 pages, 13 figures. To appear in Philosophical Magazine: Structure and Properties of Condensed Matter