Spanning Trees of Recursive Scale-Free Graphs

Abstract: We present a link-by-link rule-based method for constructing all members of the ensemble of spanning trees for any recursively generated, finitely articulated graph, such as the DGM net. The recursions allow for many large-scale properties of the ensemble of spanning trees to be analytically solved exactly. We show how a judicious application of the prescribed growth rules selects for certain subsets of the spanning trees with particular desired properties (small-world or extended diameter, degree distribution, etc.), and thus provides solutions to several optimization problems. The analysis of spanning trees enhances the usefulness of recursive graphs as sophisticated models for everyday life complex networks.