Resilience of Core-Periphery Networks in the Case of Rich-Club

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the resilience of core-periphery networks is affected by increasing the density of the rich-club core or adding links to the periphery, analyzing impacts on network cohesion and information flow.

Contribution

It introduces a scenario analysis of network resilience by comparing core densification and peripheral link addition in rich-club networks.

Findings

Denser rich-clubs improve network cohesion and efficiency.

Adding peripheral links enhances network robustness differently.

Procedures influence node heterogeneity and network performance.

Abstract

Core-periphery networks are structures that present a set of central and densely connected nodes, namely the core, and a set of non-central and sparsely connected nodes, namely the periphery. The rich-club refers to a set in which the highest degree nodes show a high density of connections. Thus, a network that displays a rich-club can be interpreted as a core-periphery network in which the core is made up by a number of hubs. In this paper, we test the resilience of networks showing a progressively denser rich-club and we observe how this structure is able to affect the network measures in terms of both cohesion and efficiency in information flow. Additionally, we consider the case in which, instead of making the core denser, we add links to the periphery. These two procedures of core and periphery thickening delineate a decision process in the placement of new links and allow us to conduct a scenario analysis that can be helpful in the comprehension and supervision of complex networks under the resilience perspective. The advantages of the two procedures, as well as their implications, are discussed in relation to both network effciency and node heterogeneity.