Scale-free structures emerging from co-evolution of a network and the distribution of a diffusive resource on it

Co-evolution exhibited by a network system, involving the intricate interplay between the dynamics of the network itself and the subsystems connected by it, is a key concept for understanding the self-organized, flexible nature of real-world network systems. We propose a simple model of such coevolving network dynamics, in which the diffusion of a resource over a weighted network and the resource-driven evolution of the link weights occur simultaneously. We demonstrate that, under feasible conditions, the network robustly acquires scale-free characteristics in the asymptotic state. Interestingly, in the case that the system includes dissipation, it asymptotically realizes a dynamical phase characterized by an organized scale-free network, in which the ranking of each node with respect to the quantity of the resource possessed thereby changes ceaselessly. Our model offers a unified framework for understanding some real-world diffusion-driven network systems of diverse types.