The Fractal Properties of Internet

Abstract

In this paper we show that the Internet web, from a user's perspective, manifests robust scaling properties of the type $P(n)\propto n^{-τ}$ where n is the size of the basin connected to a given point, $P$ represents the density of probability of finding n points downhill and $τ=1.9 \pm 0.1$ s a characteristic universal exponent. This scale-free structure is a result of the spontaneous growth of the web, but is not necessarily the optimal one for efficient transport. We introduce an appropriate figure of merit and suggest that a planning of few big links, acting as information highways, may noticeably increase the efficiency of the net without affecting its robustness.