Error and attack vulnerability of Apollonian networks

Abstract This article examines the resilience of different Apollonian network (AN) types—deterministic, random, and evolutionary—to systematic attacks. ANs, members of the family of maximal planar graphs, possess unique properties such as high clustering coefficients, small-world properties, scale-free behavior, Euclidean and space-filling properties, and modularity. These peculiarities require a thorough investigation of their robustness. This work presents a novel approach to studying ANs by implementing evolutionary Apollonian networks (EANs). These EANs include various probabilities distribution functions, including exponential, degenerate, logistic, Pareto, and stable (Cauchy, Lévy, Normal) distributions. To improve the robustness of these networks, we propose a novel edge rewiring mechanism using a genetic algorithm (GA). The GA aims to optimize a combined metric that includes the Flow Robustness of Degree (SFRD), Betweenness (SFRB), and Dangalchev's closeness (SFRC) centralities while preserving the original degree distribution and structural properties of the network. To evaluate the effectiveness of this approach, we use various robustness measures to assess the resilience of different AN types. The results show that SFRB, SFRD, and SFRC effectively rank ANs based on their robustness.