Smart Rewiring: Improving Network Robustness Faster

Previous work puts forward a random edge rewiring method which is capable of improving the network robustness noticeably, while it lacks further discussions about how to improve the robustness faster. In this study, the detailed analysis of the structures of improved networks show that regenerating the edges between high-degree nodes can enhance the robustness against a targeted attack. Therefore, we propose a novel rewiring strategy based on regenerating more edges between high-degree nodes, called smart rewiring, which could speed up the increase of the robustness index effectively. The smart rewiring method also explains why positive degree-degree correlation could enhance network robustness.