title: Topology of the fittest transportation network.
abstract: The presence or absence of loops in the emergent transportation networks, that are characterized by a minimum overall cost, is shown to depend on the convexity of the cost function for the local transportation of material. Our results are directly applicable to a variety of situations across disciplines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Center for Materials Physics, 104 Davey Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Banavar
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Colaiori
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Flammini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maritan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rinaldo
mesh_terms: D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D014186:Transportation