title: Metastability and anomalous fixation in evolutionary games on scale-free networks.
abstract: We study the influence of complex graphs on the metastability and fixation properties of a set of evolutionary processes. In the framework of evolutionary game theory, where the fitness and selection are frequency dependent and vary with the population composition, we analyze the dynamics of snowdrift games (characterized by a metastable coexistence state) on scale-free networks. Using an effective diffusion theory in the weak selection limit, we demonstrate how the scale-free structure affects the system's metastable state and leads to anomalous fixation. In particular, we analytically and numerically show that the probability and mean time of fixation are characterized by stretched-exponential behaviors with exponents depending on the network's degree distribution.
authors.affiliation: Loomis Laboratory of Physics, Department of Physics, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Assaf
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mobilia
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D005716:Game Theory; D008957:Models, Genetic; D012641:Selection, Genetic