An empirical analysis of the correlation between the motifs frequency and the topological properties of complex networks

Abstract

Complex networks are data structures with great importance in representing real world interactions which surrounds us. While their structures might look chaotic at a first glance, the focus of most on-going studies in this field is in understanding how their topological properties influence the dynamics of a complex network’s structure in order to prove a possible order in the apparent chaos that they display. Based on the evidence found in our previous studies, which revealed a significant correlation between the existence of articulation points and meso-level components such as network motifs, this paper tries to extend this study by presenting analytical research between a consistent set of micro-level topological properties from Graph and Complex Networks Theory and the appearance of the motifs. The purpose of this study is to use network properties to provide a better understanding of how and why network motifs appear, a further step toward the goal of proposing a generator model for networks with specific concentrations of motifs.