Coevolutionary dynamics of information spreading and heterophilic link rewiring

Abstract

In many complex systems, the dynamic processes that take place on a network and the changes in the network topology are intertwined. Here, we propose a model of coevolutionary dynamics of information spreading which is accompanied with link rewiring to facilitate the propagation of information. In our model, nodes possessing information attempt to contact new susceptible nodes through the link rewiring while the information spreads on a network. Using moment-closure and heterogeneous mean-field approximations, we examine both the information spread dynamics and network evolution focusing on epidemic size, epidemic threshold, and degree distributions at the steady state. We found that more frequent heterophilic link rewiring leads to a larger epidemic size but does not alter the epidemic threshold. We also observed that link rewiring results in a broader degree distribution in the steady state. This study provides an insight into the the role of the heterophilic link rewiring in both facilitating information propagation and inducing network heterogeneity.