Structures in Complex Bipartite Networks

Background

The science of networks is a relatively new field with roots in sociology, biology, mathematics, and physics. Physicists began thinking about the Laws of Networks around the same time as large databases became available via the Internet. Their way of thinking about networks was inspired by great advances in the field of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, made in the 1970’s and 1980’s. On the molecular level, nature tends to be uniform. Matter is made up from a huge number of particles that all behave according to the same, simple set of rules. Knowledge of these rules allows us to predict the macroscopic properties of matter based on the collective statistics of the myriads of particles. Due to the success of statistical physics in analyzing the states of matter and especially the transitions between states, it was a natural assumption to think that similar, simple laws govern the behavior of individual nodes; that the macroscopic properties of networks can be analyzed using the principles of statistical physics. Physicists began to investigate networks with the assumption that networks can be understood as collections of many particles (nodes) that interact (connect/link) according to simple rules.