Center for Complex Network Research and Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Center for Systems and Control, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Science. 2017 Nov 24;358(6366):1042-1046. doi: 10.1126/science.aai7488.
Most networked systems of scientific interest are characterized by temporal links, meaning the network's structure changes over time. Link temporality has been shown to hinder many dynamical processes, from information spreading to accessibility, by disrupting network paths. Considering the ubiquity of temporal networks in nature, we ask: Are there any advantages of the networks' temporality? We use an analytical framework to show that temporal networks can, compared to their static counterparts, reach controllability faster, demand orders of magnitude less control energy, and have control trajectories, that are considerably more compact than those characterizing static networks. Thus, temporality ensures a degree of flexibility that would be unattainable in static networks, enhancing our ability to control them.
大多数具有科学研究价值的网络系统都具有时间关联性，这意味着网络的结构会随时间而变化。时间关联性会扰乱网络路径，从而阻碍信息传播、可及性等诸多动态过程。鉴于时间网络在自然界中的普遍性，我们不禁要问：网络的时间关联性是否有任何优势？我们使用分析框架表明，与静态网络相比，时间网络可以更快地达到可控性，所需的控制能量要少几个数量级，并且控制轨迹比静态网络的轨迹更为紧凑。因此，时间关联性确保了在静态网络中无法实现的灵活性程度，增强了我们对其进行控制的能力。
