Balls-in-boxes condensation on networks

We discuss two different regimes of condensate formation in zero-range processes on networks: on a q-regular network, where the condensate is formed as a result of a spontaneous symmetry breaking, and on an irregular network, where the symmetry of the partition function is explicitly broken. In the latter case we consider a minimal irregularity of the q-regular network introduced by a single Q node with degree Q > q. The statics and dynamics of the condensation depend on the parameter alpha=ln Q/q, which controls the exponential falloff of the distribution of particles on regular nodes and the typical time scale for melting of the condensate on the Q node, which increases exponentially with the system size N. This behavior is different than that on a q-regular network, where alpha=0 and where the condensation results from the spontaneous symmetry breaking of the partition function, which is invariant under a permutation of particle occupation numbers on the q nodes of the network. In this case the typical time scale for condensate melting is known to increase typically as a power of the system size.(c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.