Eur. Phys. J. B (2015) 88: 282
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2015-60596-0

Regular Article

Imperfect spreading on temporal networks^*

¹ naXys, University of Namur, Rempart de la Vierge 8, 5000 Namur, Belgium
² ICTEAM and CORE, Université catholique de Louvain, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

^a e-mail: renaud.lambiotte@unamur.be

Received: 23 July 2015
Received in final form: 8 September 2015
Published online: 2 November 2015

Abstract

We study spreading on networks where the contact dynamics between the nodes is governed by a random process and where the inter-contact time distribution may differ from the exponential. We consider a process of imperfect spreading, where transmission is successful with a determined probability at each contact. We first derive an expression for the inter-success time distribution, determining the speed of the propagation, and then focus on a problem related to epidemic spreading, by estimating the epidemic threshold in a system where nodes remain infectious during a finite, random period of time. Finally, we discuss the implications of our work to design an efficient strategy to enhance spreading on temporal networks.