All scale-free networks are sparse

Charo Del Genio

Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Biological Physics, Dresden, Germany

We study the realizability of scale free-networks with a given degree sequence, showing that the fraction of realizable sequences undergoes two first-order transitions at the values 0 and 2 of the power-law exponent. We substantiate this finding by analytical reasoning. Our results reveal a fundamental reason why large scale-free networks without constraints on minimum and maximum degrees must be sparse.

Back