Diffusive capture process on complex networks

Abstract

We study the dynamical properties of a diffusing lamb captured by a diffusing lion on the complex networks with various sizes of N. We find that the lifetime {T} of a lamb scales as {T} approximately N and the survival probability S(N-->infinity, t) becomes finite on scale-free networks with degree exponent gamma > 3. However, S(N, t) for gamma < 3 has a long-living tail on tree-structured scale-free networks and decays exponentially on looped scale-free networks. This suggests that the second moment of degree distribution {k2} is the relevant factor for the dynamical properties in the diffusive capture process. We numerically find that the normalized number of capture events at a node with degree k, n(k), decreases as n(k) approximately k(-sigma). When gamma < 3, n(k) still increases anomalously for k approximately kmax, where kmax is the maximum value of k of given networks with size N. We analytically show that n(k) satisfies the relation n(k) approximately {k2}P(k) for any degree distribution P(k) and the total number of capture events Ntot is proportional to {k2}, which causes the gamma -dependent behavior of S(N, t) and {T}.