Dynamic interdependence and competition in multilayer networks

Delving deeper into the interactions between complex systems

31 July 2019

Physicists have developed a method for investigating the interactions between complex dynamical systems, deepening our understanding of how different systems influence each other.

From the human brain to critical infrastructure, many complex real-world systems include subsystems that can affect one another. Understanding how these subsystems interact can lead to deeper insights into how they influence collective behaviour.

For instance, nodes in one system can influence nodes in another through cooperation, as in infrastructure or financial networks, or competition, as in ecological systems, or social and neural networks. Both interactions can happen simultaneously, as in predator–prey relationships in nature.

A team that included a researcher from Northwestern Polytechnical University has developed a dynamic model that can capture and model these cooperative and competitive interactions between dynamic systems.

The work could provide a better understanding of the interacting complex real-world systems.

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References

1. Nature Physics 15, 178−185 (2019). doi: 10.1038/s41567-018-0343-1