Digraphs are different: Why directionality matters in complex systems

Abstract

Many networks describing complex systems are directed: the interactions between elements are not symmetric. Recent work has shown that these networks can display properties such as trophic coherence or non-normality, which in turn affect stability, percolation and other dynamical features. I show here that these topological properties have a common origin, in that the edges of directed networks can be aligned—or not—with a global direction. And I illustrate how this can lead to rich and unexpected dynamical behaviour even in the simplest of models.