Random Apollonian Networks

In this letter, we propose a simple rule that generates scale-free networks with very large clustering coefficient and very small average distance. These networks are called {\bf Random Apollonian Networks}(RANs) as they can be considered as a variation of Apollonian networks. We obtain the analytic result of power-law exponent $\gamma =3$ and clustering coefficient $C={46/3}-36\texttt{ln}{3/2}\approx 0.74$, which agree very well with the simulation results. We prove that the increasing tendency of average distance of RAN is a little slower than the logarithm of the number of nodes in RAN. Since many real-life networks are both scale-free and small-world, RANs may perform well in mimicking the reality. The epidemic spreading process is also studied, we find that the diseases spread slower in RANs than BA networks in the early stage of SI process, indicating that the large clustering coefficient may slower the spreading velocity especially in the outbreaks.