Coupling light with matter for identifying dominant subnetworks
We introduce DOMINO, a light-matter computing platform that exploits the full complex amplitude of coupled condensate networks to solve maximum-weight clique problems and reveal hidden indirect correlations in large graphs. By embedding network structure directly into a gain-controlled polaritonic (or photonic) oscillator array, DOMINO performs analog optimization, directly solving the maximum-weight clique problem via the gain-controlled minimisation, through a physically enforced global-intensity constraint, allowing the system to converge rapidly to dominant subnetworks while simultaneously extracting phase, encoded co- and counter-regulation patterns. This gain-based mechanism unlocks capabilities inaccessible to conventional Ising-type simulators: all degrees of freedom (amplitude and phase) participate in the computation, dramatically expanding the class of problems that can be efficiently encoded. Our approach is inherently ultrafast, energy-efficient, and naturally robust to noise, requiring no digital post-processing. Applied to real gene-gene coexpression data, DOMINO reliably identifies biologically meaningful transcription-regulator modules and exposes latent regulatory relationships. Because the method applies generically to any weighted network, it establishes a scalable physical route to solving high-value graph-analytic tasks across biology, finance, social systems, and engineered networks.
Authors
- Airat Kamaletdinov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3519-9748)
- Natalia G. Berloff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2114-4321)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Applied
- Published
- 2026-11-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/3w79-jl7x
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Strong Light-Matter Interactions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- UK Research and Innovation
- Cambridge Trust
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council