Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: There has been tremendous development in linear controllability of complex networks. Real-world systems are fundamentally nonlinear. Is linear controllability relevant to nonlinear dynamical networks? We identify a common trait underlying both types of control: the nodal "importance". For nonlinear and linear control, the importance is determined, respectively, by physical/biological considerations and the probability for a node to be in the minimum driver set. We study empirical mutualistic networks and a gene regulatory network, for which the nonlinear nodal importance can be quantified by the ability of individual nodes to restore the system from the aftermath of a tipping-point transition. We find that the nodal importance ranking for nonlinear and linear control exhibits opposite trends: for the former large-degree nodes are more important but for the latter, the importance scale is tilted towards the small-degree nodes, suggesting strongly the irrelevance of linear controllability to these systems. The recent claim of successful application of linear controllability to Caenorhabditis elegans connectome is examined and discussed.
Source: Nature Communications
Authors: Junjie Jiang, Ying-Cheng Lai
Institution: Arizona State University
Language: English
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,200
OpenAlex ID: W2971418853