Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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SOE: Fachverband Physik sozio-ökonomischer Systeme

SOE 5: Award Ceremony: Young Scientist Award for Socio- and Econophysics

SOE 5.1: Invited Talk

Monday, March 22, 2010, 16:00–16:45, H44

Tying the double knot: Robustness of interconnected networks — •Shlomo Havlin — Bar-Ilan University, ramat-Gan, Israel

After a decade of intense study on networks, almost all the research done has been concentrated on the case of a single network which does not interact with other networks. Such situations rarely, if ever, occur. Modern systems are coupled together and should be modeled by multiple interdependent networks. For example, a power station network and a computer communication network, are interdependent, since the comunication nodes rely for power supply on the power stations, while the power stations depend for their control on the proper functioning of the communication network. In interdependent networks, when nodes in one network fail, they cause dependent nodes in another network to also fail. This may happen iteratively and can lead to a cascade of failures. In fact, a failure of a very small fraction of nodes in one network may lead to the complete fragmentation of a system of many interdependent networks. We provide an analytical framework for understanding the robustness of interacting networks subject to such cascading failures. Surprisingly, analyzing complex systems as a set of interdependent networks may alter a basic assumption that network theory has relied on: while for a single network a broader degree distribution of the network nodes results in the network being more robust to random failures, for interdependent networks, the broader the distribution is, the more vulnerable the networks become. These findings pose a significant challenge to the future design of robust modern interdependent networks.