Time-varying networks are inherently dynamic, and used for modeling spreading processes on networks. Whether using time-varying networks will be worth the added complexity depends on the relative time scales in question. Time-varying networks are most useful in describing systems where the spreading process on a network and the network itself evolve at similar timescales.6
Let the characteristic timescale for the evolution of the network be t N {\displaystyle t_{N}} , and the characteristic timescale for the evolution of the spreading process be t P {\displaystyle t_{P}} . A process on a network will fall into one of three categories:
The flow of data over the internet is an example for the first case, where the network changes very little in the fraction of a second it takes for a network packet to traverse it.7 The spread of sexually transmitted diseases is an example of the second, where the prevalence of the disease spreads in direct correlation to the rate of evolution of the sexual contact network itself.8 Behavioral contagion is an example of the third case, where behaviors spread through a population over the combined network of many day-to-day social interactions.9
There are three common representations for time-varying network data.10
The measures used to characterize static networks are not immediately transferable to time-varying networks. See Path, Connectedness, Distance, Centrality. However, these network concepts have been adapted to apply to time-varying networks.
Time respecting paths are the sequences of links that can be traversed in a time-varying network under the constraint that the next link to be traversed is activated at some point after the current one. Like in a directed graph, a path from i {\displaystyle i} to j {\displaystyle j} does not mean there is a path from j {\displaystyle j} to i {\displaystyle i} . In contrast to paths in static and evolving networks, however, time respecting paths are also non-transitive. That is to say, just because there is a path from i {\displaystyle i} to j {\displaystyle j} and from j {\displaystyle j} to k {\displaystyle k} does not mean that there is a path from i {\displaystyle i} to k {\displaystyle k} . Furthermore, time respecting paths are themselves time-varying, and are only valid paths during a specific time interval.11
While analogous to connectedness in static networks, reachability is a time-varying property best defined for each node in the network. The set of influence of a node i {\displaystyle i} is the set of all nodes that can be reached from i {\displaystyle i} via time respecting paths, note that it is dependent on the start time t {\displaystyle t} . The source set of a node i {\displaystyle i} is the set of all nodes that can reach i {\displaystyle i} via time respecting paths within a given time interval. The reachability ratio can be defined as the average over all nodes i {\displaystyle i} of the fraction of nodes within the set of influence of i {\displaystyle i} .12
Connectedness of an entire network is less conclusively defined, although some have been proposed. A component may be defined as strongly connected if there is a directed time respecting path connecting all nodes in the component in both directions. A component may be defined as weakly connected if there is an undirected time respecting path connecting all nodes in the component in both directions.13 Also, a component may be defined as transitively connected if transitivity holds for the subset of nodes in that component.
Causal fidelity quantifies the goodness of the static approximation of a temporal network. Such a static approximation is generated by aggregating the edges of a temporal network over time. The idea of causal fidelity is to compare the number of paths between all node pairs in the temporal network P t e m p {\displaystyle P_{temp}} (that is, all time respecting paths) with the number of paths P s t a t {\displaystyle P_{stat}} between all nodes in the static approximation of the network.14 The causal fidelity is then defined by
Since in P t e m p {\displaystyle P_{temp}} only time respecting paths are considered, P t e m p ≤ P s t a t {\displaystyle P_{temp}\leq P_{stat}} , and consequently 0 ≤ c ≤ 1 {\displaystyle 0\leq c\leq 1} . A high causal fidelity c ≈ 1 {\displaystyle c\approx 1} means that the considered temporal network is well approximated by its static (aggregated) counterpart. If c ≪ 1 {\displaystyle c\ll 1} , then most node pairs that are reachable in the static representation are not connected by time respecting paths in the temporal network.
Also called temporal distance, latency is the time-varying equivalent to distance. In a time-varying network any time respecting path has a duration, namely the time it takes to follow that path. The fastest such path between two nodes is the latency, note that it is also dependent on the start time. The latency from node i {\displaystyle i} to node j {\displaystyle j} beginning at time t {\displaystyle t} is denoted by λ i , t ( j ) {\displaystyle \lambda _{i,t}(j)} .
Measuring centrality on time-varying networks involves a straightforward replacement of distance with latency.15 For discussions of the centrality measures on a static network see Centrality.
Time-varying network allow for analysis of explicit time dependent properties of the network. It is possible to extract recurring and persistent patterns of contact from time-varying data in many ways. This is an area of ongoing research.
Time-varying networks allow for the analysis of an entirely new dimension of dynamic processes on networks. In cases where the time scales of evolution of the network and the process are similar, the temporal structure of time-varying networks has a dramatic impact on the spread of the process over the network.
The time between two consecutive events, for an individual node or link, is called the inter-event time. The distribution of inter-event times of a growing number of important, real-world, time-varying networks have been found to be bursty, meaning inter-event times are very heterogeneous – they have a heavy-tailed distribution. This translates to a pattern of activation where activity comes in bursts separated by longer stretches of inactivity.21
Burstiness of inter-event times can dramatically slow spreading processes on networks,22 which has implications for the spread of disease, information, ideas, and computer viruses. However, burstiness can also accelerate spreading processes, and other network properties also have an effect on spreading speed.23 Real-world time-varying networks may thus promote spreading processes despite having a bursty inter-event time distribution.24
Burstiness as an empirical quantity can be calculated for any sequence of inter-event times, τ {\displaystyle \tau } , by comparing the sequence to one generated by a Poisson process. The ratio of the standard deviation, σ {\displaystyle \sigma } , to the mean, m {\displaystyle m} , of a Poisson process is 1. This measure compares σ τ / m τ {\displaystyle \sigma _{\tau }/m_{\tau }\ } to 1.
Burstiness varies from −1 to 1. B = 1 indicates a maximally bursty sequence, B = 0 indicates a Poisson distribution, and B = −1 indicates a periodic sequence.25
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