Title
Fundamental limitations of network reconstruction
Abstract
Network reconstruction is the first step towards understanding, diagnosing and controlling the dynamics of complex networked systems. It allows us to infer properties of the interaction matrix, which characterizes how nodes in a system directly interact with each other. Despite a decade of extensive studies, network reconstruction remains an outstanding challenge. The fundamental limitations governing which properties of the interaction matrix (e.g., adjacency pattern, sign pattern and degree sequence) can be inferred from given temporal data of individual nodes remain unknown. Here we rigorously derive necessary conditions to reconstruct any property of the interaction matrix. These conditions characterize how uncertain can we be about the coupling functions that characterize the interactions between nodes, and how informative does the measured temporal data need to be; rendering two classes of fundamental limitations of network reconstruction. Counterintuitively, we find that reconstructing any property of the interaction matrix is generically as difficult as reconstructing the interaction matrix itself, requiring equally informative temporal data. Revealing these fundamental limitations shed light on the design of better network reconstruction algorithms, which offer practical improvements over existing methods.
Year
Venue
Field
2015
CoRR
Adjacency list,Coupling,Matrix (mathematics),Theoretical computer science,Temporal database,Degree (graph theory),Rendering (computer graphics),Mathematics
DocType
Volume
Citations 
Journal
abs/1508.03559
3
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.43
7
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Marco Tulio Angulo1778.01
Jaime A. Moreno277170.62
Albert-lászló Barabási346491107.35
Yang-Yu Liu41199.57