Distinguish the Heterogeneity for Different Individuals by von Neumann Entropy
When analyzing and describing the statistical and topological characteristics of complex networks, the heterogeneity can provide profound and systematical recognition to illustrate the difference of individuals, and many node significance indices have been investigated to describe heterogeneity in different perspectives. In this paper a new node heterogeneity index based on the von Neumann entropy is proposed, which allows us to investigate the differences of nodes features in the view of spectrum eigenvalues distribution, and examples in reality networks present its great performance in selecting crucial individuals. Then to lower down the computational complexity, an approximation calculation to this index is given which only depends on its first and second neighbors. Furthermore, in reducing the network heterogeneity index by Estrada, this entropy heterogeneity presents excellent efficiency in ER and scale-free networks compared to other node significance measurements; in reducing the average clustering coefficient, this node entropy index could break down the cluster structures efficiently in random geometric graphs, even faster than clustering coefficient itself. This new methodology reveals the node heterogeneity and significance in the perspective of spectrum, which provides a new insight into networks research and performs great potentials to discover essential structural features in networks.
Exploring the Node Importance Based on von Neumann Entropy
When analyzing the statistical and topological characteristics of complex networks, an effective and convenient way is to compute the centralities for recognizing influential and significant nodes or structures, yet most of them are restricted to local environment or some specific configurations. In this paper we propose a new centrality for nodes based on the von Neumann entropy, which allows us to investigate the importance of nodes in the view of spectrum eigenvalues distribution. By presenting the performances of this centrality with network examples in reality, it is shown that the von Neumann entropy node centrality is an excellent index for selecting crucial nodes as well as classical ones. Then to lower down the computational complexity, an approximation calculation to this centrality is given which only depends on its first and second neighbors. Furthermore, in the optimal spreader problem and reducing average clustering coefficients, this entropy centrality presents excellent efficiency and unveil topological structure features of networks accurately. The entropy centrality could reduce the scales of giant connected components fastly in Erdos-Renyi and scale-free networks, and break down the cluster structures efficiently in random geometric graphs. This new methodology reveals the node importance in the perspective of spectrum, which provides a new insight into networks research and performs great potentials to discover essential structural features in networks.