Prime number enigma could be solved by simple networks - physics-math - 03 March 2014 - New Scientist

Prime number enigma could be solved by simple networks - physics-math - 03 March 2014 - New Scientist:

To investigate, Marián Boguñá of the University of Barcelona, Spain, and his colleagues turned the numbers from 2 to 1 billion into a network by linking composites to their prime building blocks. They also devised a way to generate similar networks using other simple rules to link the numbers, and wondered if they could get these networks to reproduce the pattern of links between primes and composites.

Their rules depend on probabilities, so the generated networks are different each time. On average, the researchers found that the webs are very close to the real network of primes and composites...