No Arabic abstract
The voter model has been studied extensively as a paradigmatic opinion dynamics model. However, its ability for modeling real opinion dynamics has not been addressed. We introduce a noisy voter model (accounting for social influence) with agents recurrent mobility (as a proxy for social context), where the spatial and population diversity are taken as inputs to the model. We show that the dynamics can be described as a noisy diffusive process that contains the proper anysotropic coupling topology given by population and mobility heterogeneity. The model captures statistical features of the US presidential elections as the stationary vote-share fluctuations across counties, and the long-range spatial correlations that decay logarithmically with the distance. Furthermore, it recovers the behavior of these properties when a real-space renormalization is performed by coarse-graining the geographical scale from county level through congressional districts and up to states. Finally, we analyze the role of the mobility range and the randomness in decision making which are consistent with the empirical observations.
For Agent Based Models, in particular the Voter Model (VM), a general framework of aggregation is developed which exploits the symmetries of the agent network $G$. Depending on the symmetry group $Aut_{omega} (N)$ of the weighted agent network, certain ensembles of agent configurations can be interchanged without affecting the dynamical properties of the VM. These configurations can be aggregated into the same macro state and the dynamical process projected onto these states is, contrary to the general case, still a Markov chain. The method facilitates the analysis of the relation between microscopic processes and a their aggregation to a macroscopic level of description and informs about the complexity of a system introduced by heterogeneous interaction relations. In some cases the macro chain is solvable.
In this paper, we study influence maximization in the voter model in the presence of biased voters (or zealots) on complex networks. Under what conditions should an external controller with finite budget who aims at maximizing its influence over the system target zealots? Our analysis, based on both analytical and numerical results, shows a rich diagram of preferences and degree-dependencies of allocations to zealots and normal agents varying with the budget. We find that when we have a large budget or for low levels of zealotry, optimal strategies should give larger allocations to zealots and allocations are positively correlated with node degree. In contrast, for low budgets or highly-biased zealots, optimal strategies give higher allocations to normal agents, with some residual allocations to zealots, and allocations to both types of agents decrease with node degree. Our results emphasize that heterogeneity in agent properties strongly affects strategies for influence maximization on heterogeneous networks.
We introduce a non-linear variant of the voter model, the q-voter model, in which q neighbors (with possible repetition) are consulted for a voter to change opinion. If the q neighbors agree, the voter takes their opinion; if they do not have an unanimous opinion, still a voter can flip its state with probability $epsilon$. We solve the model on a fully connected network (i.e. in mean-field) and compute the exit probability as well as the average time to reach consensus. We analyze the results in the perspective of a recently proposed Langevin equation aimed at describing generic phase transitions in systems with two ($Z_2$ symmetric) absorbing states. We find that in mean-field the q-voter model exhibits a disordered phase for high $epsilon$ and an ordered one for low $epsilon$ with three possible ways to go from one to the other: (i) a unique (generalized voter-like) transition, (ii) a series of two consecutive Ising-like and directed percolation transition, and (iii) a series of two transitions, including an intermediate regime in which the final state depends on initial conditions. This third (so far unexplored) scenario, in which a new type of ordering dynamics emerges, is rationalized and found to be specific of mean-field, i.e. fluctuations are explicitly shown to wash it out in spatially extended systems.
Recent generalization of the coevolving voter model (J. Toruniewska et al, PRE 96 (2017) 042306) is further generalized here, including spin-dependent probability of rewiring. Mean field results indicate that either the system splits into two separate networks with different spins, or one of spin orientation goes extinct. In both cases, the density of active links is equal to zero. The results are discussed in terms of homophily in social contacts.
The voter model with memory-dependent dynamics is theoretically and numerically studied at the mean-field level. The `internal age, or time an individual spends holding the same state, is added to the set of binary states of the population, such that the probability of changing state (or activation probability $p_i$) depends on this age. A closed set of integro-differential equations describing the time evolution of the fraction of individuals with a given state and age is derived, and from it analytical results are obtained characterizing the behavior of the system close to the absorbing states. In general, different age-dependent activation probabilities have different effects on the dynamics. When the activation probability $p_i$ is an increasing function of the age $i$, the system reaches a steady state with coexistence of opinions. In the case of aging, with $p_i$ being a decreasing function, either the system reaches consensus or it gets trapped in a frozen state, depending on the value of $p_infty$ (zero or not) and the velocity of $p_i$ approaching $p_infty$. Moreover, when the system reaches consensus, the time ordering of the system can be exponential ($p_infty>0$) or power-law like ($p_infty=0$). Exact conditions for having one or another behavior, together with the equations and explicit expressions for the exponents, are provided.