Probabilistic prediction in scale-free networks: Diameter changes

Abstract

In complex systems, responses to small perturbations are too diverse to predict how much they would be definitely, and then such diverse responses can be predicted in a probabilistic way. Here we study such a problem in scale-free networks, for example, the diameter changes by the deletion of each node for various in silico and real world scale-free networks. We find that the diameter changes are indeed diverse and exhibit an algebraic decay with an exponent ζasymptotically. Interestingly, the exponent ζis robust as ζ\simeq 2.2(1) for most scale-free networks, insensitive to the degree exponents γas long as 2 < γ\le 3. However, there is another type with ζ\simeq 1.7(1) and its examples include the Internet and its related in silico model.