Berlin 2012 – scientific programme
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SOE: Fachverband Physik sozio-ökonomischer Systeme
SOE 20: Social Systems, Opinion and Group Dynamics III
SOE 20.1: Talk
Thursday, March 29, 2012, 14:00–14:15, H 0110
Fragmentation Transitions in Multi-State Voter Models — •Gesa A. Böhme1 and Thilo Gross2 — 1Max-Planck-Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany — 2University of Bristol, Department of Engineering Mathematics, Bristol, UK
Adaptive networks can display fragmentation transitions, where the network breaks into disconnected components. Fragmentation transitions frequently occur in models for opinion formation. We investigate opinion formation in a model society with N opinions. Voters in this model align with their social environment or cut relationships to disagreeing individuals according to given rates. The system can reach different regimes, which are characterized by their number of disconnected components, ranging from 1 (full consensus) to N (full fragmentation). Transitions between these regimes, i.e. the fragmentation thresholds, depend on the parameters of the system. In this talk we give an analytical estimation of the fragmentation thresholds for the example of three opinions, and generalize the results to models with an arbitrary number of opinions. Based on eigenvalue bounds, we reveal equivalence principles for special state-network topologies which allow for a significant reduction of the parameter space.