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Optimal dismantling of directed networks
Xueming Liu1, Jiawen Hu2, Yumei Wang2
1School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation, Engineering Research Center of Autonomous Intelligent Unmanned Systems, and Institute of Medical Equipment Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. xm_liu@hust.edu.cn.
Nature Communications
|June 22, 2026
Summary
We developed a new method to find critical nodes in directed networks, outperforming existing approaches for network dismantling. This method helps control epidemics and disrupt harmful networks by identifying key structural vulnerabilities.
Area of Science:
- Network Science
- Complex Systems Analysis
Background:
- Network dismantling identifies critical nodes to fragment network connectivity.
- Existing methods primarily focus on undirected networks, neglecting directed systems like the WWW.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel centrality measure and dismantling method for directed networks.
- To improve the identification of structurally critical nodes in directed systems.
Main Methods:
- Introduced network incoherence centrality, a new centrality measure.
- Developed a trophic analysis-based dismantling method using this centrality measure.
Main Results:
- The proposed method consistently outperformed existing approaches on synthetic and real-world directed networks.
- The method triggered the largest connectivity avalanches, effectively pinpointing critical nodes.
Conclusions:
- The new method is highly effective for network dismantling in directed systems.
- Findings advance the understanding of structure-function relationships in directed networks and system resilience.
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