No Arabic abstract
Real networks often form interacting parts of larger and more complex systems. Examples can be found in different domains, ranging from the Internet to structural and functional brain networks. Here, we show that these multiplex systems are not random combinations of single network layers. Instead, they are organized in specific ways dictated by hidden geometric correlations between the individual layers. We find that these correlations are strong in different real multiplexes, and form a key framework for answering many important questions. Specifically, we show that these geometric correlations facilitate: (i) the definition and detection of multidimensional communities, which are sets of nodes that are simultaneously similar in multiple layers; (ii) accurate trans-layer link prediction, where connections in one layer can be predicted by observing the hidden geometric space of another layer; and (iii) efficient targeted navigation in the multilayer system using only local knowledge, which outperforms navigation in the single layers only if the geometric correlations are sufficiently strong. Our findings uncover fundamental organizing principles behind real multiplexes and can have important applications in diverse domains.
Multi-layered networks represent a major advance in the description of natural complex systems, and their study has shed light on new physical phenomena. Despite its importance, however, the role of the temporal dimension in their structure and function has not been investigated in much detail so far. Here we study the temporal correlations between layers exhibited by real social multiplex networks. At a basic level, the presence of such correlations implies a certain degree of predictability in the contact pattern, as we quantify by an extension of the entropy and mutual information analyses proposed for the single-layer case. At a different level, we demonstrate that temporal correlations are a signature of a multitasking behavior of network agents, characterized by a higher level of switching between different social activities than expected in a uncorrelated pattern. Moreover, temporal correlations significantly affect the dynamics of coupled epidemic processes unfolding on the network. Our work opens the way for the systematic study of temporal multiplex networks and we anticipate it will be of interest to researchers in a broad array of fields.
Multiplex networks are convenient mathematical representations for many real-world -- biological, social, and technological -- systems of interacting elements, where pairwise interactions among elements have different flavors. Previous studies pointed out that real-world multiplex networks display significant inter-layer correlations -- degree-degree correlation, edge overlap, node similarities -- able to make them robust against random and targeted failures of their individual components. Here, we show that inter-layer correlations are important also in the characterization of their $mathbf{k}$-core structure, namely the organization in shells of nodes with increasingly high degree. Understanding $k$-core structures is important in the study of spreading processes taking place on networks, as for example in the identification of influential spreaders and the emergence of localization phenomena. We find that, if the degree distribution of the network is heterogeneous, then a strong $mathbf{k}$-core structure is well predicted by significantly positive degree-degree correlations. However, if the network degree distribution is homogeneous, then strong $mathbf{k}$-core structure is due to positive correlations at the level of node similarities. We reach our conclusions by analyzing different real-world multiplex networks, introducing novel techniques for controlling inter-layer correlations of networks without changing their structure, and taking advantage of synthetic network models with tunable levels of inter-layer correlations.
We show that real multiplex networks are unexpectedly robust against targeted attacks on high degree nodes, and that hidden interlayer geometric correlations predict this robustness. Without geometric correlations, multiplexes exhibit an abrupt breakdown of mutual connectivity, even with interlayer degree correlations. With geometric correlations, we instead observe a multistep cascading process leading into a continuous transition, which apparently becomes fully continuous in the thermodynamic limit. Our results are important for the design of efficient protection strategies and of robust interacting networks in many domains.
All real networks are different, but many have some structural properties in common. There seems to be no consensus on what the most common properties are, but scale-free degree distributions, strong clustering, and community structure are frequently mentioned without question. Surprisingly, there exists no simple generative mechanism explaining all the three properties at once in growing networks. Here we show how latent network geometry coupled with preferential attachment of nodes to this geometry fills this gap. We call this mechanism geometric preferential attachment (GPA), and validate it against the Internet. GPA gives rise to soft communities that provide a different perspective on the community structure in networks. The connections between GPA and cosmological models, including inflation, are also discussed.
Many natural, engineered, and social systems can be represented using the framework of a layered network, where each layer captures a different type of interaction between the same set of nodes. The study of such multiplex networks is a vibrant area of research. Yet, understanding how to quantify the correlations present between pairs of layers, and more so present in their co-evolution, is lacking. Such methods would enable us to address fundamental questions involving issues such as function, redundancy and potential disruptions. Here we show first how the edge-set of a multiplex network can be used to construct an estimator of a joint probability distribution describing edge existence over all layers. We then adapt an information-theoretic measure of general correlation called the conditional mutual information, which uses the estimated joint probability distribution, to quantify the pairwise correlations present between layers. The pairwise comparisons can also be temporal, allowing us to identify if knowledge of a certain layer can provide additional information about the evolution of another layer. We analyze datasets from three distinct domains---economic, political, and airline networks---to demonstrate how pairwise correlation in structure and dynamical evolution between layers can be identified and show that anomalies can serve as potential indicators of major events such as shocks.