Non-Equilibrium Phase Transitions Induced by Social Temperature In Kinetic Exchange Opinion Models on Regular Lattices

Abstract

In this work, we study the critical behavior of a three-state opinion model in the presence of noise. This noise represents the independent behavior, that plays the role of social temperature. Each agent on a regular D-dimensional lattice has a probability q to act as independent, i.e., he can choose his opinion independent of the opinions of his neighbors. Furthermore, with the complementary probability 1−q, the agent interacts with a randomly chosen nearest neighbor through a kinetic exchange. Our numerical results suggest that the model undergoes non-equilibrium phase transitions at critical points qc that depend on the lattice dimension. These transitions are of order–disorder type, presenting the same critical exponents of the Ising model. The results also suggest that the upper critical dimension of the model is Dc=4, as for the Ising model. From the social point of view, with increasing number of social connections, it is easier to observe a majority opinion in the population.

Keywords

• Social dynamics
• collective phenomenon
• computer simulation
• phase transition