Bakry–Émery Curvature Sharpness and Curvature Flow in Finite Weighted Graphs: Implementation

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the implementation of a curvature flow on weighted graphs based on the Bakry–Émery calculus. This flow can be adapted to preserve the Markovian property and its limits as time goes to infinity turn out to be curvature sharp weighted graphs. After reviewing some of the main results of the corresponding paper concerned with the theoretical aspects, we present various examples (random graphs, paths, cycles, complete graphs, wedge sums and Cartesian products of complete graphs, and hypercubes) and exhibit various properties of this flow. One particular aspect of our investigations is asymptotic stability and instability of curvature flow equilibria. The paper ends with a description of the Python functions and routines freely available in an ancillary file on arXiv or via github. We hope that the explanations of the Python implementation via examples will help users to carry out their own curvature flow experiments.

Keywords

• curvature flow
• Bakry-Émery calculus
• weighted graphs
• stability