Hidden Higher-Order Vulnerabilities in Simplicial Complexes Revealed by Branch-Consistent Functional Robustness

TL;DR

This paper introduces a branch-consistent approach to measure the robustness of higher-order networks, revealing vulnerabilities and critical simplices through mode-sensitive deletion protocols.

Contribution

It resolves the ill-defined nature of eigenvalue-based robustness measures by fixing and tracking a specific eigenvalue branch, enabling accurate assessment of higher-order network vulnerabilities.

Findings

Small triangle removals can collapse critical modes without changing graph structure.

The approach uncovers bridge-like critical simplices affecting network function.

Provides a predictor for dynamical timescales based on simplicial complex analysis.

Abstract

Robustness of higher-order networks is often quantified by the instantaneous smallest positive eigenvalue of the Hodge $1$-Laplacian under simplex deletion. We show that this observable is generically ill-defined: along a deletion trajectory, eigenvalue branches can switch, so the quantity being monitored may correspond to different nonharmonic modes at different steps. The primary issue is therefore definitional rather than algorithmic. We resolve it by fixing the first nonharmonic branch of the intact complex and following that same branch throughout the damage process, which defines a branch-consistent functional robustness. Triangle sensitivities then follow directly from first-order perturbation theory, making the resulting mode-sensitive deletion protocol a consequence of the observable itself rather than an independent heuristic. Across synthetic and empirical clique complexes, removing only a small fraction of triangles is sufficient to drive the tracked mode to collapse, while graph-level observables remain unchanged because the $1$-skeleton is exactly preserved. The same framework also reveals bridge-like localization of functionally critical simplices and provides a compact predictor of dynamical timescales.