Irreducible dynamics on multi-layer networks

Dr Vincenzo Nicosia, Queen Mary University of London. Part of the Leeds Applied Nonlinear Dynamics seminar series.

Abstract: Multi-layer and multiplex networks have recently shown to be useful models of multi-dimensional complex systems, including social circles, transportation networks, and the human brain. One important characteristic of the multi-layer network metaphor is that it can easily explain the emergence of complex dynamics which cannot be observed on single-layer graphs. In this talk we will explore two examples of genuinely multiplex dynamics, respectively modelling a) the formation of consensus in a population of agents interacting over different social media, and b) the coupling of hematic and electrical activity in the human brain. We will show that the two models exhibit qualitatively new emergent behaviours, and we will provide some arguments about why these behavious cannot be observed on the corresponding single-layer processes, making those dynamics effectively "irreducible".