EPJB Colloquium - How to understand real-world complexity through multiplex networks

Details

Published on 16 February 2015

Many real-world complex systems (from living organisms to human societies to transportation system) are best modeled by multiplex networks of interacting network layers. The study of multiplex network is one of the newest and hottest themes in the statistical physics of complex networks. Compared to single networks the current level of our understanding of multiplex networks is far from satisfactory. Pioneering studies have proven that the multiplexity has broad impact on the system's structure and function. Novel phenomena, unforeseen in traditional single-layer framework, can arise as a consequence of the coupling of network layers. In this EPJ B Colloquium Kyu-Min Lee, Byungjoon Min, and Kwang-Il Goh organize and review of the growing body of literature on statistical physics of multiplex networks by categorizing existing studies broadly according to the type of layer coupling in the problem. They discuss the recent major developments and point out some outstanding open challenges and research questions that warrant serious investigation, such as the identification of the minimal couplings (in the renormalization group sense) relevant to the characteristic discontinuous transitions in multiplex systems.