Structural transitions in scale-free networks

Abstract

Real growing networks like the WWW or personal connection based networks are characterized by a high degree of clustering, in addition to the small-world property and the absence of a characteristic scale. Appropriate modifications of the (Barabasi-Albert) preferential attachment network growth capture all these aspects. We present a scaling theory to describe the behavior of the generalized models and the mean field rate equation for the problem. This is solved for a specific case with the result C(k) ~ 1/k for the clustering of a node of degree k. Numerical results agree with such a mean-field exponent which also reproduces the clustering of many real networks.