Blog: Beating the Competition [a single new connection can dramatically enhance the size of a network ...]

Beating the Competition
Max Planck Gessellschaft (01/17/11) Birgit Krummheuer

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Gottingen, and the University of Gottingen have mathematically described the influence of single additional links in a network. Using computer simulations, the researchers tracked the growth of networks link by link. Their study found that a single new connection can dramatically enhance the size of a network, whether the connection is an additional link in the Internet, a new acquaintance for a circle of friends, or a connection between two nerve cells in the brain. The researchers focused on the intermediate growth stage, when elements are beginning to sporadically connect into small groups, but before the entire system is linked. After a certain number of new links, there is a sudden growth spurt, as the size of the largest network in the system is enhanced dramatically. The researchers would like to determine which forms of competition in natural systems from biology and physics imply this rapid growth and study the consequences of growth spurts.

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