Abstract:We study the target inactivation and recovery in two-layer networks. Five kinds of strategies are chosen to attack the two-layer networks and to recover the activity of the networks by increasing the inter-layer coupling strength. The results show that we can easily control the dying state effectively by a randomly attacked situation. We then investigate the recovery activity of the networks by increasing the inter-layer coupled strength. The optimal values of the inter-layer coupled strengths are found, which could provide a more effective range to recovery activity of complex networks. As the multilayer systems composed of active and inactive elements raise important and interesting problems, our results on the target inactivation and recovery in two-layer networks would be extended to different studies.