Physics (Internal)

Design of Robust Interdependent Networks by Introducing Protective Nodes

This event is part of the Preliminary Oral Exam.

Examining Committee: Stanley, Skocpol, Erramilli, Black

Abstract:

Modern complex systems are generally interdependent and have been demonstrated to be subject to cascading failures and catastrophic abrupt collapse. Here, we study a system of interdependent networks A and B with the introduction of a fraction of protective nodes in each network to strengthen the system against random node failures in both networks. With this strategy, using percolation theory, we find that for fully interdependent ER networks, if the protective nodes exceed a critical fraction of 0.1756, which does not depend on the mean degree, the system would not undergo a percolation transition against random node failures. Our results show that this strategy can help design resilient interdependent complex systems.