Keith Briggs -- Abstract

Exponential Random Graphs

Ensembles of graphs formed in close analogy to statistical mechanical models in physics have recently become popular again after being first proposed (as p* models) by social networkers in the 1960s. They seem to provide a way of unifying various loosely-defined models often used in network applications (scale-free graphs etc.) into a single rigorous framework. I will give an introduction to this theory and discuss possible developments (exactly soluble models, perturbation theory, MCMC methods for simulation, parameter estimation) and application areas.


Page modified June 2005 by Richard G. Clegg