Diffusion Processes in Heterogeneous Interdependent Networks

Technological and infrastructure networks are interdependent with the social networks that are ultimately defining and driving their behavior. At the same time however the social network is reacting and adapting to the infrastructure behavior and the available information defining a feedback loop that is at the core of the techno-social interdependence. All these interdependencies are the nexus allowing failures in one infrastructure to propagate to other infrastructures and are often the cause of widespread disruption.. I will discuss the challenges and recent developments in modeling different classes of dynamical behavior and tipping points as function of the level of interdependency across networks. These considerations are relevant both to the understanding of biological and social spreading processes across different but coupled social networks as well as in the diffusion of information packets in heterogeneous interdependent networks.