Evolution and Structure of the Internet
A Statistical Physics Approach

This book, first published in 2004, applies statistical physics and complex systems theory to the evolution and structure of the Internet.

Romualdo Pastor-Satorras (Author), Alessandro Vespignani (Author)

9780521826983, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 February 2004

284 pages, 81 b/w illus. 8 tables
25.5 x 18 x 2.1 cm, 0.793 kg

'The approach the authors take is radically different: being important contributors to the field of complex networks, they use this expertise here in tackling various practical problems related to the information superhighway. … authors provide ample references to choose from for the interested. … The collection of topics in this book is broad, just as the Internet is itself. … [This book is] a good point of reference or entry-level introduction to complex networks, and definitely an interesting read.' Journal of Statistical Physics

This book, first published in 2004, describes the application of statistical physics and complex systems theory to the study of the evolution and structure of the Internet. Using a statistical physics approach the Internet is viewed as a growing system that evolves in time through the addition and removal of nodes and links. This perspective permits us to outline the dynamical theory required for a description of the macroscopic evolution of the Internet. The presence of such a theoretical framework appears to be a revolutionary and promising path towards our understanding of the Internet and the various processes taking place on this network, including, for example, the spread of computer viruses or resilience to random or intentional damages. This book will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in statistical physics, computer science and mathematics studying in this subject.

Preface
List of abbreviations
1. A brief history of the Internet
2. How the Internet works
3. Measuring the global Internet
4. The Internet's large-scale topology
5. Modeling the Internet
6. Internet robustness
7. Virtual and social networks in the Internet
8. Searching and walking on the Internet
9. Epidemics in the Internet
10. Beyond the Internet's skeleton: traffic and global performance
11. Outlook
Appendix I: graph theory applied to topology analysis
Appendix II: interface resolution and router topology
Appendix III: numerical analysis of heavy-tailed distributions
Appendix IV: degree correlations
Appendix V: scale-free networks: scaling relations
Appendix VI: the SIR model of virus propagation
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Computer science [UY], 3D graphics & modelling [UGK], Internet guides & online services [UDB], Physics [PH]