Multiplexity amplifies geometry in networks

Many real-world networks are multilayer, with nontrivial correlations across layers. Here, we show that these correlations amplify geometry in networks. We focus on mutual clustering—a measure of the number of triangles that are present in all layers among the same triplets of nodes—and find that this clustering is abnormally high in many real-world networks, even when clustering in each individual layer is weak. We explain this unexpected phenomenon using a simple multiplex network model with latent geometry: Links that are most congruent with this geometry are the ones that persist across layers, amplifying the cross-layer triangle overlap. This result reveals a different dimension in which multilayer networks are radically distinct from their constituent layers.