We propose a general method for the construction and analysis of unweighted ε-recurrence networks from chaotic time series. The selection of the critical threshold ε_{c} in our scheme is done empirically and we show that its value is closely linked to the embedding dimension M. In fact, we are able to identify a small critical range Δε numerically that is approximately the same for the random and several standard chaotic time series for a fixed M. This provides us a uniform framework for the nonsubjective comparison of the statistical measures of the recurrence networks constructed from various chaotic attractors. We explicitly show that the degree distribution of the recurrence network constructed by our scheme is characteristic to the structure of the attractor and display statistical scale invariance with respect to increase in the number of nodes N. We also present two practical applications of the scheme, detection of transition between two dynamical regimes in a time-delayed system and identification of the dimensionality of the underlying system from real-world data with a limited number of points through recurrence network measures. The merits, limitations, and the potential applications of the proposed method are also highlighted.

We propose a novel measure of degree heterogeneity, for unweighted and undirected complex networks, which requires only the degree distribution of the network for its computation. We show that the proposed measure can be applied to all types of network topology with ease and increases with the diversity of node degrees in the network. The measure is applied to compute the heterogeneity of synthetic (both random and scale free (SF)) and real-world networks with its value normalized in the interval false[0,1false]. To define the measure, we introduce a limiting network whose heterogeneity can be expressed analytically with the value tending to 1 as the size of the network N tends to infinity. We numerically study the variation of heterogeneity for random graphs (as a function of p and N) and for SF networks with γ and N as variables. Finally, as a specific application, we show that the proposed measure can be used to compare the heterogeneity of recurrence networks constructed from the time series of several low-dimensional chaotic attractors, thereby providing a single index to compare the structural complexity of chaotic attractors.

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Recurrence networks and the associated statistical measures have become important tools in the analysis of time series data. In this work, we test how effective the recurrence network measures are in analyzing real world data involving two main types of noise, white noise and colored noise. We use two prominent network measures as discriminating statistic for hypothesis testing using surrogate data for a specific null hypothesis that the data is derived from a linear stochastic process. We show that the characteristic path length is especially efficient as a discriminating measure with the conclusions reasonably accurate even with limited number of data points in the time series. We also highlight an additional advantage of the network approach in identifying the dimensionality of the system underlying the time series through a convergence measure derived from the probability distribution of the local clustering coefficients. As examples of real world data, we use the light curves from a prominent black hole system and show that a combined analysis using three primary network measures can provide vital information regarding the nature of temporal variability of light curves from different spectroscopic classes.

Recurrence networks are complex networks, constructed from time series data, having several practical applications. Though their properties when constructed with the threshold value ǫ chosen at or just above the percolation threshold of the network are quite well understood, what happens as the threshold increases beyond the usual operational window is still not clear from a complex network perspective. The present Letter is focused mainly on the network properties at intermediate-to-large values of the recurrence threshold, for which no systematic study has been performed so far. We argue, with numerical support, that recurrence networks constructed from chaotic attractors with ǫ equal to the usual recurrence threshold or slightly above cannot, in general, show small-world property. However, if the threshold is further increased, the recurrence network topology initially changes to a small-world structure and finally to that of a classical random graph as the threshold approaches the size of the strange attractor.