ELASTICITY: Topological Characterization of Robustness in Complex Networks

• Main Authors: Sydney, Ali, Scoglio, Caterina, Schumm, Phillip, Kooij, Robert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 25-11-2008
• Subjects: Computer Science - Networking and Internet Architecture; Physics - Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.0811.4040

Just as a herd of animals relies on its robust social structure to survive in
the wild, similarly robustness is a crucial characteristic for the survival of
a complex network under attack. The capacity to measure robustness in complex
networks defines the resolve of a network to maintain functionality in the
advent of classical component failures and at the onset of cryptic malicious
attacks. To date, robustness metrics are deficient and unfortunately the
following dilemmas exist: accurate models necessitate complex analysis while
conversely, simple models lack applicability to our definition of robustness.
In this paper, we define robustness and present a novel metric, elasticity- a
bridge between accuracy and complexity-a link in the chain of network
robustness. Additionally, we explore the performance of elasticity on Internet
topologies and online social networks, and articulate results.