title: Layer-layer competition in multiplex complex networks.
abstract: The coexistence of multiple types of interactions within social, technological and biological networks has moved the focus of the physics of complex systems towards a multiplex description of the interactions between their constituents. This novel approach has unveiled that the multiplex nature of complex systems has strong influence in the emergence of collective states and their critical properties. Here we address an important issue that is intrinsic to the coexistence of multiple means of interactions within a network: their competition. To this aim, we study a two-layer multiplex in which the activity of users can be localized in each of the layers or shared between them, favouring that neighbouring nodes within a layer focus their activity on the same layer. This framework mimics the coexistence and competition of multiple communication channels, in a way that the prevalence of a particular communication platform emerges as a result of the localization of user activity in one single interaction layer. Our results indicate that there is a transition from localization (use of a preferred layer) to delocalization (combined usage of both layers) and that the prevalence of a particular layer (in the localized state) depends on the structural properties.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50009, Spain Instituto de Biocomputación y Física de Sistemas Complejos, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50018, Spain gardenes@gmail.com.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gómez-Gardeñes
authors.affiliation: Departament d'Enginyeria Informàtica i Matemàtiques, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona 43007, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Domenico
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias Aplicadas, Instituto Tecnológico Metropolitano, Medellín 354, Colombia.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez
authors.affiliation: Departament d'Enginyeria Informàtica i Matemàtiques, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona 43007, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arenas
authors.affiliation: Departament d'Enginyeria Informàtica i Matemàtiques, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona 43007, Spain.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gómez
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003142:Communication; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D020407:Internet; D008954:Models, Biological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011336:Probability; D013598:Systems Theory
keywords: competition; complex networks; multilayer and interconnected networks; multiplex network