Topological properties of a time-integrated activity-driven network.

Here we consider the topological properties of the integrated networks emerging from the activity-driven model [N. Perra et al., Sci. Rep. 2, 469 (2012)], a temporal network model recently proposed to explain the power-law degree distribution empirically observed in many real social networks. By means of a mapping to a hidden-variable network model, we provide analytical expressions for the main topological properties of the integrated network, depending on the integration time and the distribution of activity potential characterizing the model. The expressions obtained, exacts in some cases, the results of controlled asymptotic expansions in others, are confirmed by means of extensive numerical simulations. Our analytical approach, which highlights the differences of the model with respect to the empirical observations made in real social networks, can be easily extended to deal with improved, more realistic modifications of the activity-driven network paradigm.