Finite data-size scaling of clustering in earthquake networks

Abstract

An earthquake network is known to be of the small-world type. The values of the network's characteristics, however, depend not only on the cell size (i.e., the scale of coarse graining needed for constructing the network) but also on the size of a seismic data set. Here, discovery of a scaling law for the clustering coefficient in terms of the data size, which is referred to here as finite data-size scaling, is reported. Its universality is shown to be supported by the detailed analysis of the data taken from California, Japan and Iran. Effects of setting a threshold of magnitude are also discussed.