Analysing Motifs in Multilayer Networks

Abstract

Network motifs can capture basic interaction patterns and inform the functional properties of networks. However, real-world complex systems often have multiple types of relationships, which cannot be represented by a monolayer network. The multilayer nature of complex systems demands research on extending the notion of motifs to multilayer networks, thereby exploring the interaction patterns with a higher resolution. In this paper, we propose a formal definition of multilayer motifs, and analyse the occurrence of three-node multilayer motifs in a set of real-world multilayer networks. We find that multilayer motifs in social networks are more homogeneous across layers, indicating that different types of social relationships are reinforcing each other, while those in the transportation network are more complementary across layers. We find that biological networks are often associated with heterogeneous functions. This research sheds light on how multilayer network framework enables the capture of the hidden multi-aspect relationships among the nodes.

References in corpus (15)

• Network robustness and fragility: Percolation on random graphs
• Subgraph Centrality in Complex Networks
• Multirelational Organization of Large-scale Social Networks in an Online World
• Structural Properties of the Caenorhabditis elegans Neuronal Network
• The physics of spreading processes in multilayer networks
• Layer aggregation and reducibility of multilayer interconnected networks
• Emergence of network features from multiplexity
• Random Walks on Multiplex Networks
• Measuring and modelling correlations in multiplex networks
• Percolation in real interdependent networks
• Multilayer motif analysis of brain networks
• Topological Generalizations of network motifs
• The Multilayer Temporal Network of Public Transport in Great Britain
• The new challenges of multiplex networks: measures and models
• Subgraphs and network motifs in geometric networks