Complex networks generated by the Penna bit-string model: Emergence of small-world and assortative mixing

TL;DR

This paper modifies the Penna bit-string model to generate social interaction networks that exhibit small-world and assortative mixing properties, providing insights into population evolution and social network formation.

Contribution

The study introduces a modified Penna model with activity-based preferential reproduction, leading to the emergence of complex networks with small-world and assortative mixing features.

Findings

The generated networks display small-world effects.

The networks exhibit assortative mixing.

The modifications influence social network structure.

Abstract

The Penna bit-string model successfully encompasses many phenomena of population evolution, including inheritance, mutation, evolution and ageing. If we consider social interactions among individuals in the Penna model, the population will form a complex network. In this paper, we first modify the Verhulst factor to control only the birth rate, and introduce activity-based preferential reproduction of offspring in the Penna model. The social interactions among individuals are generated by both inheritance and activity-based preferential increase. Then we study the properties of the complex network generated by the modified Penna model. We find that the resulting complex network has a small-world effect and the assortative mixing property.