Structural Balance via Gradient Flows Over Signed Graphs

DOI10.1109/TAC.2020.3018435MaRDI QIDQ5002127zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Pedro Cisneros-Velarde, Noah E. Friedkin, Francesco Bullo, A. V. Proskurnikov

Publication date 26 July 2021

Published in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.11281

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Social networks; opinion dynamics (91D30)

Abstract: Structural balance is a classic property of signed graphs satisfying Heider's seminal axioms. Mathematical sociologists have studied balance theory since its inception in the 1040s. Recent research has focused on the development of dynamic models explaining the emergence of structural balance. In this paper, we introduce a novel class of parsimonious dynamic models for structural balance based on an interpersonal influence process. Our proposed models are gradient flows of an energy function, called the dissonance function, which captures the cognitive dissonance arising from violations of Heider's axioms. Thus, we build a new connection with the literature on energy landscape minimization. This gradient flow characterization allows us to study the transient and asymptotic behaviors of our model. We provide mathematical and numerical results describing the critical points of the dissonance function.

Cited in

(2)

• Consensus for clusters of agents with cooperative and antagonistic relationships
• Stabilization and synchronization control for complex dynamical networks with dynamic link subsystem

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