Topological constraints on self-organisation in locally interacting systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Sacco, Francesco, Sakthivadivel, Dalton A R, Levin, Michael
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Sacco, Francesco
Sakthivadivel, Dalton A R
Levin, Michael
author_facet Sacco, Francesco
Sakthivadivel, Dalton A R
Levin, Michael
contents All intelligence is collective intelligence, in the sense that it is made of parts which must align with respect to system-level goals. Understanding the dynamics which facilitate or limit navigation of problem spaces by aligned parts thus impacts many fields ranging across life sciences and engineering. To that end, consider a system on the vertices of a planar graph, with pairwise interactions prescribed by the edges of the graph. Such systems can sometimes exhibit long-range order, distinguishing one phase of macroscopic behaviour from another. In networks of interacting systems we may view spontaneous ordering as a form of self-organisation, modelling neural and basal forms of cognition. Here, we discuss necessary conditions on the topology of the graph for an ordered phase to exist, with an eye towards finding constraints on the ability of a system with local interactions to maintain an ordered target state. By studying the scaling of free energy under the formation of domain walls in three model systems -- the Potts model, autoregressive models, and hierarchical networks -- we show how the combinatorics of interactions on a graph prevent or allow spontaneous ordering. As an application we are able to analyse why multiscale systems like those prevalent in biology are capable of organising into complex patterns, whereas rudimentary language models are challenged by long sequences of outputs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_13188
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Topological constraints on self-organisation in locally interacting systems
Sacco, Francesco
Sakthivadivel, Dalton A R
Levin, Michael
Statistical Mechanics
Machine Learning
Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
Cell Behavior
All intelligence is collective intelligence, in the sense that it is made of parts which must align with respect to system-level goals. Understanding the dynamics which facilitate or limit navigation of problem spaces by aligned parts thus impacts many fields ranging across life sciences and engineering. To that end, consider a system on the vertices of a planar graph, with pairwise interactions prescribed by the edges of the graph. Such systems can sometimes exhibit long-range order, distinguishing one phase of macroscopic behaviour from another. In networks of interacting systems we may view spontaneous ordering as a form of self-organisation, modelling neural and basal forms of cognition. Here, we discuss necessary conditions on the topology of the graph for an ordered phase to exist, with an eye towards finding constraints on the ability of a system with local interactions to maintain an ordered target state. By studying the scaling of free energy under the formation of domain walls in three model systems -- the Potts model, autoregressive models, and hierarchical networks -- we show how the combinatorics of interactions on a graph prevent or allow spontaneous ordering. As an application we are able to analyse why multiscale systems like those prevalent in biology are capable of organising into complex patterns, whereas rudimentary language models are challenged by long sequences of outputs.
title Topological constraints on self-organisation in locally interacting systems
topic Statistical Mechanics
Machine Learning
Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
Cell Behavior
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.13188