Analysis of an evolving email network

In this paper we study an evolving email network model first introduced by Wang and De Wilde, to the best of our knowledge. The model is analyzed by formulating the network topology as a random process and studying the dynamics of the process. Our analytical results show a number of steady state properties about the email traffic between different nodes and the aggregate networking behavior (i.e., degree distribution, clustering coefficient, average path length, and phase transition), and also confirm the empirical results obtained by Wang and De Wilde. We also conducted simulations confirming the analytical results. Extensive simulations were run to evaluate email traffic behavior at the link and network levels, phase transition phenomena, and also studying the behavior of email traffic in a hierarchical network. The methods established here are also applicable to many other practical networks including sensor networks and social networks. © 2006 The American Physical Society.