A Self-organized model for network evolution

Abstract

Here we provide a detailed analysis, along with some extensions and additonal investigations, of a recently proposed self-organised model for the evolution of complex networks. Vertices of the network are characterised by a fitness variable evolving through an extremal dynamics process, as in the Bak-Sneppen model representing a prototype of Self-Organized Criticality. The network topology is in turn shaped by the fitness variable itself, as in the fitness network model. The system self-organizes to a nontrivial state, characterized by a power-law decay of dynamical and topological quantities above a critical threshold. The interplay between topology and dynamics in the system is the key ingredient leading to an unexpected behaviour of these quantities.