English

The physics of higher-order interactions in complex systems

Physics and Society 2021-10-13 v1 Disordered Systems and Neural Networks Social and Information Networks Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems Neurons and Cognition

Abstract

Complex networks have become the main paradigm for modelling the dynamics of interacting systems. However, networks are intrinsically limited to describing pairwise interactions, whereas real-world systems are often characterized by higher-order interactions involving groups of three or more units. Higher-order structures, such as hypergraphs and simplicial complexes, are therefore a better tool to map the real organization of many social, biological and man-made systems. Here, we highlight recent evidence of collective behaviours induced by higher-order interactions, and we outline three key challenges for the physics of higher-order systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2110.06023,
  title  = {The physics of higher-order interactions in complex systems},
  author = {Federico Battiston and Enrico Amico and Alain Barrat and Ginestra Bianconi and Guilherme Ferraz de Arruda and Benedetta Franceschiello and Iacopo Iacopini and Sonia Kéfi and Vito Latora and Yamir Moreno and Micah M. Murray and Tiago P. Peixoto and Francesco Vaccarino and Giovanni Petri},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.06023},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

pre-peer-reviewed version of the Nature Physics perspective, 7 pages, 4 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-24T06:49:38.373Z