Mean first passage time on a family of weighted directed hierarchical scale-free networks

Abstract

Random walks on binary scale-free networks have been widely studied. However, many networks in real life are weighted and directed, the dynamic processes of which are less understood. In this paper, we firstly present a family of directed weighted hierarchical scale-free networks, which is obtained by introducing a weight parameter [Formula: see text] into the binary (1, 3)-flowers. Besides, each pair of nodes is linked by two edges with opposite direction. Secondly, we deduce the mean first passage time (MFPT) with a given target as a measure of trapping efficiency. The exact expression of the MFPT shows that both its prefactor and its leading behavior are dependent on the weight parameter [Formula: see text]. In more detail, the MFPT can grow sublinearly, linearly and superlinearly with varied [Formula: see text]. Last but not least, we introduce a delay parameter p to modify the transition probability governing random walk. Under this new scenario, we also derive the exact solution of the MFPT with the given target, the result of which illustrates that the delay parameter p can only change the coefficient of the MFPT and leave the leading behavior of MFPT unchanged. Both the analytical solutions of MFPT in two distinct scenarios mentioned above agree well with the corresponding numerical solutions. The analytical results imply that we can get desired transport efficiency by tuning weight parameter [Formula: see text] and delay parameter p. This work may help to advance the understanding of random walks in general directed weighted scale-free networks.