As two main focuses of the study of complex networks, the community structureand the dynamics on networks have both attracted much attention in variousscientific fields. However, it is still an open question how the communitystructure is associated with the dynamics on complex networks. In this paper,through investigating the diffusion process taking place on networks, wedemonstrate that the intrinsic community structure of networks can be revealedby the stable local equilibrium states of the diffusion process. Furthermore,we show that such community structure can be directly identified through theoptimization of the conductance of network, which measures how easily thediffusion occurs among different communities. Tests on benchmark networksindicate that the conductance optimization method significantly outperforms themodularity optimization methods at identifying the community structure ofnetworks. Applications on real world networks also demonstrate theeffectiveness of the conductance optimization method. This work providesinsights into the multiple topological scales of complex networks, and theobtained community structure can naturally reflect the diffusion capability ofthe underlying network.
展开▼
