Percolation in Interdependent and Interconnected Networks: Abrupt Change from Second to First Order Transition

TL;DR

This paper investigates the robustness and phase transition phenomena in coupled networks with both interdependent and interconnected links, revealing complex hybrid and discontinuous transitions.

Contribution

It introduces a percolation framework for coupled networks with mixed link types, uncovering novel hybrid and abrupt transition behaviors.

Findings

Discovery of hybrid first-second order phase transitions.

Identification of abrupt changes from second to first order transitions.

Revealing complex phenomena in realistic coupled network models.

Abstract

Robustness of two coupled networks system has been studied only for dependency coupling (S. Buldyrev et. al., Nature, 2010) and only for connectivity coupling (E. A. Leicht and R. M. D'Souza, arxiv:09070894). Here we study, using a percolation approach, a more realistic coupled networks system where both interdependent and interconnected links exist. We find a rich and unusual phase transition phenomena including hybrid transition of mixed first and second order i.e., discontinuities like a first order transition of the giant component followed by a continuous decrease to zero like a second order transition. Moreover, we find unusual discontinuous changes from second order to first order transition as a function of the dependency coupling between the two networks.