2009/07/31 by Filippo Radicchi, Santo Fortunato · 9 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Complex Network Analysis Techniques #Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence #Stochastic processes and statistical mechanics #cond-mat.stat-mech #physics.soc-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.103.168701
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 168701 (2009) · 5 pages, 4 figures. Final version published on Physical Review Letters
arxiv created 2009/10/13 · openalex publication_date 2009/10/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We study scale-free networks constructed via a cooperative Achlioptas growth process. Links between nodes are introduced in order to produce a scale-free graph with given exponent lambda for the degree distribution, but the choice of each new link depends on the mass of the clusters that this link will merge. Networks constructed via this biased procedure show a percolation transition which strongly differs from the one observed in standard percolation, where links are introduced just randomly. The different growth process leads to a phase transition with a nonvanishing percolation threshold already for lambda>lambda(c) approximately 2.2. More interestingly, the transition is continuous when lambda<or=3 but becomes discontinuous when lambda>3. This may have important consequences for both the structure of networks and for the dynamics of processes taking place on them.