Universal dynamics on complex networks

¹  Department of Electrical Engineering, Arizona State University - Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
²  Department of Physics and Astronomy, Arizona State University - Tempe, AZ 85287, USA

Received: 7 April 2009
Accepted: 22 May 2009

Abstract

We uncover a class of universal dynamics on weighted complex networks. In particular, we find that by incorporating a universal weighting scheme into real-world networks, the topological details of various real-world networks, whether biological, physical, technological, or social, have little influence on typical dynamical processes such as synchronization, epidemic spreading, and percolation. This striking finding is demonstrated using a large number of real-world networks and substantiated by analytic considerations. These findings make possible generic and robust control strategies for a variety of dynamical processes on complex networks.