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Complex networks

Patterns of complexity

Nature Physics volume 6, pages 480–481 (2010)Cite this article

The Turing mechanism provides a paradigm for the spontaneous generation of patterns in reaction–diffusion systems. A framework that describes Turing-pattern formation in the context of complex networks should provide a new basis for studying the phenomenon.

We live in the age of networks. The Internet and the cyberworld are networks that we navigate and explore on a daily basis. Social networks, in which nodes represent individuals and links potential interactions, serve to model human interaction. Mobility, ecological, and epidemiological models rely on networks that consist of entire populations interlinked by virtue of the exchange of individuals. Network science, therefore, is where we can expect answers to many pressing problems of our modern world, from controlling traffic flow and flu pandemics to constructing robust power grids and communication networks. But there is more than nodes and links. An important development of recent years has been the realization that the topology of a network critically influences the dynamical processes happening on it1. Hiroya Nakao and Alexander Mikhailov have now tackled the problem of the effects of network structure on the emergence of so-called Turing patterns in nonlinear diffusive systems. With their study, reported in Nature Physics2, they offer a new perspective on an area that has potential applications in ecology and developmental morphogenesis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Romualdo Pastor-Satorras is in the Departament de Física i Enginyeria Nuclear, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, c. Jordi Girona 1–3, 08034 Barcelona, Spain romualdo.pastor@upc.edu,

    Romualdo Pastor-Satorras

  2. Alessandro Vespignani is at the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research, School of Informatics and Computing, and the Pervasive Technology Institute, Indiana University, 107 South Indiana Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47406, USA, and at the ISI Foundation, Viale S. Severo 65, 10133 Turin, Italy. alexv@indiana.edu,

    Alessandro Vespignani

Authors
  1. Romualdo Pastor-Satorras
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  2. Alessandro Vespignani
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Pastor-Satorras, R., Vespignani, A. Patterns of complexity. Nature Phys 6, 480–481 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1722

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