Bose-Einstein condensation in complex networks

The evolution of many complex systems, including the World Wide Web, busine ss, and citation networks, is encoded in the dynamic web describing the int eractions between the system's constituents. Despite their irreversible and nonequilibrium nature these networks follow Bose statistics and can underg o Bose-Einstein condensation. Addressing the dynamical properties of these nonequilibrium systems within the framework of equilibrium quantum gases pr edicts that the "first-mover-advantage." "fit-get-rich," and "winner-takes- all" phenomena observed in competitive systems an thermodynamically distinc t phases of the underlying evolving networks.