Dynamical Processes on Complex Networks

Alain Barrat · Marc Barthélemy · Alessandro Vespignani

Oct 2008 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

The availability of large data sets has allowed researchers to uncover complex properties such as large-scale fluctuations and heterogeneities in many networks, leading to the breakdown of standard theoretical frameworks and models. Until recently these systems were considered as haphazard sets of points and connections. Recent advances have generated a vigorous research effort in understanding the effect of complex connectivity patterns on dynamical phenomena. This book presents a comprehensive account of these effects. A vast number of systems, from the brain to ecosystems, power grids and the internet, can be represented as large complex networks. This book will interest graduate students and researchers in many disciplines, from physics and statistical mechanics to mathematical biology and information science. Its modular approach allows readers to readily access the sections of most interest to them, and complicated maths is avoided so the text can be easily followed by non-experts in the subject.

About the author

Alain Barrat is Senior Researcher at the Centre de Physique Théorique (CNRS and Aix-Marseille University, France) and at the Institute for Scientific Interchange in Turin, Italy. His research interests are in the field of out-of-equilibrium statistical mechanics.

Marc Barthélemy is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Theoretical Physics (IPhT) at the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), France. His research interests are in the application of statistical physics to complex systems.

Alessandro Vespignani is Sternberg Distinguished Professor in Physics, Computer Science and Health Science at Northeastern University, USA. He is also Fellow of the Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences at Harvard University and Scientific Director of the Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation in Italy.