On a Simple Multi-Agent Consensus Model With State-Dependent Connectivity

Abstract:

We study a simple model of opinion dynamics: each agent has an opinion represented by a real number, and updates its opinion by averaging all agent opinions that differ from its own by less than one. We give a simple proof of convergence into clusters of agents, with all agents in the same cluster holding the same opinion. We then introduce a particular notion of equilibrium stability and provide lower bounds on the inter-cluster distances at a stable equilibrium. To better understand the behavior of the system when the number of agents is large, we also introduce and study a variant involving a continuum of agents, obtaining partial convergence results and lower bounds on inter-cluster distances, under some mild assumptions.