Network topology control strategy based on spatial evolutionary public goods game

• The phenomenon that competitive individual will attract more partners is interpreted with the framework of spatial evolutionary game theory.
• A strategy that impels nodes of network to connect with a specified node is proposed.
• Cooperative environment is essential for attractive operation.
• Low rewire frequency leads to high level of heterogeneity.

It is often the case that rational individuals will adjust their connectivity in commercial or social activities for maximizing their payoffs. In this process, we can observe that individuals always gather around a leader or a competitive individual who can bring them more benefits. Inspired by this, we propose a strategy that impels nodes of network to connect with a specific node that we have specified with the perspective of spatial evolutionary public goods game. Thus a node is specified and given a larger enhancement factor which reflects his advantage over others. Then we employ a payoff-oriented preferential rewire strategy that individual will sever a neighbor who provides him with the lowest benefit and then link others randomly. The results illustrate that this strategy not only ensures the promotion of cooperation but also increases the degree of the specified node. Furthermore, we analyze the effect of two relevant parameters: enhancement factor and rewire frequency. We find that if the control strategy expects to work effectively, these two parameters have to ensure an evolution environment where cooperators can prevail defectors. We also conclude that a relatively low rewire frequency contributes to increasing the degree of the specified node. Meanwhile we attempt to present our interpretations for these phenomena.