The Robustness of Scale-free Networks Under Edge Attacks with the Quantitative Analysis

TL;DR

This paper uses quantitative analysis to challenge previous beliefs, showing that some scale-free networks are more robust under edge attacks than previously thought, with experimental evidence from multiple network types.

Contribution

It introduces a quantitative approach to assess network robustness and provides new insights into the resilience of scale-free networks under targeted edge attacks.

Findings

Some scale-free networks are robust under selective edge attacks

Quantitative methods reveal differences from previous qualitative studies

Experimental results include four scale-free and four random networks

Abstract

Previous studies on the invulnerability of scale-free networks under edge attacks supported the conclusion that scale-free networks would be fragile under selective attacks. However, these studies are based on qualitative methods with obscure definitions on the robustness. This paper therefore employs a quantitative method to analyze the invulnerability of the scale-free networks, and uses four scale-free networks as the experimental group and four random networks as the control group. The experimental results show that some scale-free networks are robust under selective edge attacks, different to previous studies. Thus, this paper analyzes the difference between the experimental results and previous studies, and suggests reasonable explanations.