Forman curvature for directed networks

A goal in network science is the geometrical characterization of complex networks. In this direction, we have recently introduced the Forman’s discretization of Ricci curvature to the realm of undirected networks. Investigation of this edge-centric network measure, Forman curvature, in diverse model and real-world undirected networks revealed that the curvature measure captures several aspects of the organization of complex undirected networks. However, many important realworld networks are inherently directed in nature, and the definition of the Forman curvature for undirected networks is unsuitable for the analysis of such directed networks. Hence, we here extend the Forman curvature for undirected networks to the case of directed networks. The simple mathematical formula for the Forman curvature of a directed edge elegantly incorporates node weights, edge weights and edge direction. By applying the Forman curvature for directed networks to a variety of model and real-world directed networks, we show that the measure can be used to characterize the structure of complex directed networks. Furthermore, our results also hold in real directed networks which are weighted or spatial in nature. These results in combination with our previous results suggest that the Forman curvature can be readily employed to study the organization of both directed and undirected complex networks.