Self-organizing criticality

Abstract

Complex Systems with characteristics of Self-Organizing Criticality (SOC) or HighlyOptimized Tolerance (HOT) exhibit events of all sizes, typically with a frequency of occurence described by a heavy-tailed distribution. Some large physical systems, such as the electric power grid, have failure statistics consistent with event statistics of SOC and HOT systems. This suggests that large-scale failures are not anomalies but should be expected as infrequent, dramatic events. The papers in this minitrack examine network models and properties that characterize complex behavior in large networks.