Enhancing robustness and synchronizability of networks homogenizing their degree distribution

A new family of networks, called entangled, has recently been proposed in the literature. These networks have optimal properties in terms of synchronization, robustness against errors and attacks, and efficient communication. They are built with an algorithm which uses modified simulated annealing to enhance a well-known measure of networks' ability to reach synchronization among nodes. In this work, we suggest that a class of networks similar to entangled networks can be produced by changing some of the connections in a given network, or by just adding a few connections. We call this class of networks weak-entangled. Although entangled networks can be considered as a subset of weak-entangled networks, we show that both classes share similar properties, especially with respect to synchronization and robustness, and that they have similar structural properties. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.