Age-dependent random connection models with arc reciprocity: clustering and connectivity

Abstract

We introduce a model for directed spatial networks. Starting from an age-based preferential attachment model in which all arcs point from younger to older vertices, we add \emph{reciprocal} connections whose probabilities depend on the age difference between their end-vertices. This yields a directed graph with reciprocal correlations, a power-law indegree distribution, and a tunable outdegree distribution. We consider two versions of the model: an infinite version embedded in $\mathbb{R}^d$, which can be constructed as a weight-dependent random connection model with a non-symmetric kernel, and a growing sequence of graphs on the unit torus that converges locally to the infinite model. Besides establishing the local limit result linking the two models, we investigate degree distributions, various directed clustering metrics, and directed percolation.