Accelerating coordination in temporal networks by engineering the link order

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the sequence of interactions in temporal networks influences the speed of synchronization, revealing that optimal link ordering can significantly accelerate coordination dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of link order as a key factor in network dynamics and proposes a greedy algorithm to optimize this order for faster synchronization.

Findings

Coordination speed varies significantly with link order.

Prolonged pairing on a single link does not necessarily improve overall synchronization.

A greedy algorithm can effectively optimize link sequences for rapid coordination.

Abstract

Social dynamics on a network may be accelerated or decelerated depending on which pairs of individuals in the network communicate early and which pairs do later. The order with which the links in a given network are sequentially used, which we call the link order, may be a strong determinant of dynamical behaviour on networks, potentially adding a new dimension to effects of temporal networks relative to static networks. Here we study the effect of the link order on linear coordination (i.e., synchronisation) dynamics. We show that the coordination speed considerably depends on specific orders of links. In addition, applying each single link for a long time to ensure strong pairwise coordination before moving to a next pair of individuals does not often enhance coordination of the entire network. We also implement a simple greedy algorithm to optimise the link order in favour of fast coordination.