Scale-free and power law distributions via fixed points and convergence of (thinning and conditioning) transformations

DOI10.1214/ECP.V19-2923zbMATH Open1320.60010arXiv1306.3017OpenAlexW2120206960MaRDI QIDQ457791FDOQ457791

Authors: Richard Arratia, Thomas M. Liggett, Malcolm J. Williamson 

Publication date: 29 September 2014

Published in: Electronic Communications in Probability (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: In discrete contexts such as the degree distribution for a graph, emph{scale-free} has traditionally been emph{defined} to be emph{power-law}. We propose a reasonable interpretation of emph{scale-free}, namely, invariance under the transformation of $p$-thinning, followed by conditioning on being positive. For each $$, we show that there is a unique distribution which is a fixed point of this transformation; the distribution is power-law-$$, and different from the usual Yule--Simon power law-$$ that arises in preferential attachment models. In addition to characterizing these fixed points, we prove convergence results for iterates of the transformation.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1306.3017

Recommendations

• Discrete scale-free distributions and associated limit theorems
• Graphs with asymptotically invariant degree sequences under restriction
• Scale-free property for degrees and weights in a preferential attachment random graph model
• Power laws in preferential attachment graphs and Stein's method for the negative binomial distribution
• Local degree distribution in scale free random graphs

zbMATH Keywords

Pareto distributiondegree distributionthinningpower-lawscale-free

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Convergence of probability measures (60B10) Small world graphs, complex networks (graph-theoretic aspects) (05C82)

Cited In (5)

• Size bias for one and all
• On new mechanisms leading to heavy-tailed distributions related to the ones of Yule-Simon
• Range-renewal processes: SLLNs and power laws
• REGENERATIVE MUTATION PROCESSES RELATED TO THE SELFDECOMPOSABILITY OF SIBUYA DISTRIBUTIONS
• Chance mechanisms involving Sibuya distribution and its relatives

This page was built for publication: Scale-free and power law distributions via fixed points and convergence of (thinning and conditioning) transformations

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q457791)