EQUATION-FREE MULTISCALE COMPUTATIONS IN SOCIAL NETWORKS: FROM AGENT-BASED MODELING TO COARSE-GRAINED STABILITY AND BIFURCATION ANALYSIS

Publication Year
2010

Type

Journal Article
Abstract

We focus on the "trijunction" between multiscale computations, bifurcation theory and social networks. In particular, we address how the Equation-Free approach, a recently developed computational framework, can be exploited to systematically extract coarse-grained, emergent dynamical information by bridging detailed, agent-based models of social interactions on networks, with macroscopic, systems-level, continuum numerical analysis tools. For our illustrations, we use a simple dynamic agent-based model describing the propagation of information between individuals interacting under mimesis in a social network with private and public information. We describe the rules governing the evolution of the agents' emotional state dynamics and discover, through simulation, multiple stable stationary states as a function of the network topology. Using the Equation-Free approach we track the dependence of these stationary solutions on network parameters and quantify their stability in the form of coarse-grained bifurcation diagrams.

Journal
International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos
Volume
20
Issue
11
Pages
3673-3688
Date Published
11/2010
ISBN
0218-1274
Short Title
Int. J. Bifurcation Chaos