Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize Winner: Albert-László BarabásiNetwork Science: From Abstract to Physical Networks

The architecture of a wide range of real systems, from the cell to the brain and communication systems, is best described as networks with complex topologies. Network science has led to the realization that despite the diversity of these systems, the underlying networks emerge and evolve following simple but generic laws, that are best unveiled using the toolset of statistical physics. As a result of these advances, today network science is an indispensable tool from physics to medicine, and its applications, ranging from epidemic control during COVID to medical diagnostic tools affecting patients, directly impact our lives. I will also explore the applications of the network science toolset to physical networks, like the brain or metamaterials, which are networks whose links are physical entities that cannot cross each other. Link physicality affects both the evolution and the structure of a network, in a way that is not captured by current graph-based approaches. Yet, the existence of an exact mapping between physical networks and independent sets allows us to derive the onset of physical effects and the emergence of a jamming transition, demonstrating that physicality impacts the network structure even when the total volume of the links is negligible.