TemporalRI: A Subgraph Isomorphism Algorithm for Temporal Networks

Abstract

Temporal networks are graphs where each edge is associated with a timestamp or an interval indicating when an interaction between two nodes happens. The Temporal Subgraph Isomorphism (TSI) problem aims at identifying all the subgraphs of a temporal network (called target) matching a smaller temporal network (called query), such that matched target edges satisfy the same chronological order of query edges. Few existing algorithms deal with the TSI problem and most of them can be applied only to small or specific queries. In this paper we propose TemporalRI, a subgraph isomorphism algorithm for temporal networks, inspired by RI algorithm. We show that our algorithm can handle queries of any size and any topology. Experiments on real networks show that TemporalRI is very efficient, especially for large queries and targets.KeywordsTemporal networksSubgraph matchingSubgraph isomorphismComplex networks