Drastic disorded-induced reduction of signal amplification in scale-free networks

TL;DR

This paper investigates how phase disorder in external signals significantly diminishes the signal amplification effects in scale-free networks, affecting biological and artificial information systems.

Contribution

It demonstrates theoretically and numerically that phase disorder reduces topological amplification in scale-free networks of signaling units.

Findings

Phase disorder drastically reduces amplification effects.

Topology-induced amplification remains robust against phase disorder.

Amplification strength influences the sensitivity to phase disorder.

Abstract

Understanding information transmission across a network is a fundamental task for controlling and manipulating both biological and man-made information processing systems. Here, we show how topological resonant-like amplification effects in scale-free networks of signaling devices are drastically reduced when phase disorder in the external signals is considered. This is demonstrated theoretically by means of a star-like network of overdamped bistable systems, and confirmed numerically by simulations of scale-free networks of such systems. The taming effect of the phase disorder is found to be sensitive to the amplification's strength, while the topology-induced amplification mechanism is robust against this kind of quenched disorder in the sense that it does not significantly change the values of the coupling strength where amplification is maximum in its absence.