Paper Info
Title
Efficient sampling of spreading processes on complex networks using a composition and rejection algorithm.
Abstract
Efficient stochastic simulation algorithms are of paramount importance to the study of spreading phenomena on complex networks. Using insights and analytical results from network science, we discuss how the structure of contacts affects the efficiency of current algorithms. We show that algorithms believed to require O(logN) or even O(1) operations per update – where N is the number of nodes – display instead a polynomial scaling for networks that are either dense or sparse and heterogeneous. This significantly affects the required computation time for simulations on large networks. To circumvent the issue, we propose a node-based method combined with a composition and rejection algorithm, a sampling scheme that has an average-case complexity of O[log(logN)] per update for general networks. This systematic approach is first set-up for Markovian dynamics, but can also be adapted to a number of non-Markovian processes and can enhance considerably the study of a wide range of dynamics on networks.
Year
DOI
Venue
2018
10.1016/j.cpc.2019.02.008
Computer Physics Communications
Keywords
Field
DocType
Spreading process,Complex network,Stochastic simulation algorithm
Network science,Stochastic simulation,Binary logarithm,Markov process,Polynomial,Algorithm,Complex network,Sampling (statistics),Mathematics,Computation
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
240
0010-4655
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Guillaume St-Onge111.71
Jean-Gabriel Young232.78
Laurent Hébert-Dufresne3387.03
Louis J. Dubé4264.66