Triadic percolation on multilayer networks
Abstract
Triadic interactions are special types of higher-order interactions that occur when regulator nodes modulate the interactions between other two or more nodes. In presence of triadic interactions, a percolation process occurring on a single-layer network becomes a fully-fledged dynamical system, characterized by period-doubling and a route to chaos. Here, we generalize the model to multilayer networks and name it as the multilayer triadic percolation (MTP) model. We find a much richer dynamical behavior of the MTP model than its single-layer counterpart. MTP displays a Neimark-Sacker bifurcation, leading to oscillations of arbitrarily large period or pseudo-periodic oscillations. Moreover, MTP admits period-two oscillations without negative regulatory interactions, whereas single-layer systems only display discontinuous hybrid transitions. This comprehensive model offers new insights on the importance of regulatory interactions in real-world systems such as brain networks, climate, and ecological systems.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2510.09341,
title = {Triadic percolation on multilayer networks},
author = {Hanlin Sun and Filippo Radicchi and Ginestra Bianconi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.09341},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
15 pages, 9 figures