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Phys. Rev. E 83, 025102(R) (2011) [4 pages]

Small but slow world: How network topology and burstiness slow down spreading

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M. Karsai1,*, M. Kivelä1, R. K. Pan1, K. Kaski1, J. Kertész1,2, A.-L. Barabási2,3, and J. Saramäki1
1BECS, School of Science and Technology, Aalto University, P.O. Box 12200, FI-00076, Finland
2Institute of Physics and BME-HAS Condensed Matter Group, BME, Budapest, Budafoki út 8., H-1111, Hungary
3Center for Complex Networks Research, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA

Received 12 June 2010; revised 8 November 2010; published 18 February 2011

While communication networks show the small-world property of short paths, the spreading dynamics in them turns out slow. Here, the time evolution of information propagation is followed through communication networks by using empirical data on contact sequences and the susceptible-infected model. Introducing null models where event sequences are appropriately shuffled, we are able to distinguish between the contributions of different impeding effects. The slowing down of spreading is found to be caused mainly by weight-topology correlations and the bursty activity patterns of individuals.

©2011 American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.83.025102
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevE.83.025102
PACS:
89.75.Hc, 02.50.Ey, 05.40.-a, 05.45.Tp

*marton.karsai@aalto.fi

 
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