The shape of node reliability

Abstract

Given a graph $G$ whose edges are perfectly reliable and whose nodes each operate independently with probability $p\in[0,1],$ the node reliability of $G$ is the probability that at least one node is operational and that the operational nodes can all communicate in the subgraph that they induce. We study analytic properties of the node reliability on the interval $[0,1]$ including monotonicity, concavity, and fixed points. Our results show a stark contrast between this model of network robustness and models that arise from coherent set systems (including all-terminal, two-terminal and K-terminal reliability).