Modeling the self-similarity in complex networks based on Coulomb’s law

• This paper models the repulsion among the nodes in the calculation of fractal dimension of complex networks.
• Coulomb’s law is adopted to represent the repulse between two nodes of the network quantitatively.

Recently, self-similarity of complex networks have attracted much attention. Fractal dimension of complex network is an open issue. Hub repulsion plays an important role in fractal topologies. This paper models the repulsion among the nodes in the complex networks in calculation of the fractal dimension of the networks. Coulomb’s law is adopted to represent the repulse between two nodes of the network quantitatively. A new method to calculate the fractal dimension of complex networks is proposed. The Sierpinski triangle network and some real complex networks are investigated. The results are illustrated to show that the new model of self-similarity of complex networks is reasonable and efficient.