Topology of the Fittest Transportation Network

Jayanth R. Banavar; Francesca Colaiori; Alessandro Flammini; Amos Maritan; Andrea Rinaldo

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.4745

Topology of the Fittest Transportation Network

Jayanth R. Banavar, Francesca Colaiori, Alessandro Flammini, Amos Maritan, and Andrea Rinaldo

Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 4745 – Published 15 May 2000

Abstract

The presence or absence of loops in the emergent transportation networks, that are characterized by a minimum overall cost, is shown to depend on the convexity of the cost function for the local transportation of material. Our results are directly applicable to a variety of situations across disciplines.

Received 15 October 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.4745

Authors & Affiliations

Jayanth R. Banavar¹, Francesca Colaiori², Alessandro Flammini³, Amos Maritan⁴, and Andrea Rinaldo⁵

¹Department of Physics and Center for Materials Physics, 104 Davey Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802
²Department of Theoretical Physics, 1 Keble Road, University of Oxford, OX1-3NP, Oxford, United Kingdom
³Cavendish Laboratory, Madingley Road, University of Cambridge, CB3-0HE, Cambridge, United Kingdom
⁴International School for Advanced Studies (S.I.S.S.A.), Via Beirut 2-4, 34014 Trieste, Italy and INFM and the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics, 34014 Trieste, Italy
⁵Dipartimento IMAGE, Universita' di Padova, via Loredan 20, I-35131 Padova, Italy