  We develop a geometric framework to study the structure and function of
complex networks. We assume that hyperbolic geometry underlies these networks,
and we show that with this assumption, heterogeneous degree distributions and
strong clustering in complex networks emerge naturally as simple reflections of
the negative curvature and metric property of the underlying hyperbolic
geometry. Conversely, we show that if a network has some metric structure, and
if the network degree distribution is heterogeneous, then the network has an
effective hyperbolic geometry underneath. We then establish a mapping between
our geometric framework and statistical mechanics of complex networks. This
mapping interprets edges in a network as non-interacting fermions whose
energies are hyperbolic distances between nodes, while the auxiliary fields
coupled to edges are linear functions of these energies or distances. The
geometric network ensemble subsumes the standard configuration model and
classical random graphs as two limiting cases with degenerate geometric
structures. Finally, we show that targeted transport processes without global
topology knowledge, made possible by our geometric framework, are maximally
efficient, according to all efficiency measures, in networks with strongest
heterogeneity and clustering, and that this efficiency is remarkably robust
with respect to even catastrophic disturbances and damages to the network
structure.
