https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-025-02093-x
Regular Article
Characterizing quantum internet using complex network models
1
Departamento de Física, Instituto de Ciências Naturais, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Caixa postal 3037, 37200-900, Lavras, MG, Brazil
2
Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin, UNICAMP, Rua Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, 777, Cidade Universitária, 13083-859, Campinas, SP, Brazil
3
Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica de Minas Gerais, Avenida Monsenhor Luiz de Gonzaga, 103, 37250-000, Nepomuceno, MG, Brazil
a
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Received:
29
September
2025
Accepted:
4
December
2025
Published online:
11
December
2025
Abstract
Quantum communication is a growing area of research, with quantum internet being one of the most promising applications. Studying the statistical properties of this network is essential to understanding its connectivity and the efficiency of the entanglement distribution. However, the models proposed in the literature often assume homogeneous distributions in the connections of the optical fiber infrastructure, without considering the heterogeneity of the network. In this work, we propose new models for the quantum internet that incorporate this heterogeneity of node connections in the optical fiber network, analyzing how this characteristic influences fundamental metrics such as the degree distribution, the average clustering coefficient, the average shortest path and assortativity. Our results indicate that, compared to homogeneous models, heterogeneous networks efficiently reproduce key structural properties of real optical fiber networks, including degree distribution, assortativity, and hierarchical behavior. These findings highlight the impact of network structure on quantum communication and can contribute to more realistic modeling of quantum internet infrastructure.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-025-02093-x.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
modified publication 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
