2013/06/30 by Clara Granell, Sergio Gomez, Alex Arenas · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · Computer Science · #physics.soc-ph #cond-mat.stat-mech #cs.SI
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.111.128701
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 111 (2013) 128701 · 5 pages + supplemental material
arxiv created 2013/09/19 · arxiv updated 2013/09/24
We present the analysis of the interrelation between two processes accounting for the spreading of an epidemics, and the information awareness to prevent its infection, on top of multiplex networks. This scenario is representative of an epidemic process spreading on a network of persistent real contacts, and a cyclic information awareness process diffusing in the network of virtual social contacts between the same individuals. The topology corresponds to a multiplex network where two diffusive processes are interacting affecting each other. The analysis using a Microscopic Markov Chain Approach (MMCA) reveals the phase diagram of the incidence of the epidemics and allows to capture the evolution of the epidemic threshold depending on the topological structure of the multiplex and the interrelation with the awareness process. Interestingly, the critical point for the onset of the epidemics has a critical value (meta-critical point) defined by the awareness dynamics and the topology of the virtual network, from which the onset increases and the epidemics incidence decreases.