From Control to Opinion Dynamics: Signum Consensus Protocol on Arbitrary Weighted Directed Graphs

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Li, Mingxi, Wang, Hanzhou, Li, Dongyu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Li, Mingxi
Wang, Hanzhou
Li, Dongyu
author_facet Li, Mingxi
Wang, Hanzhou
Li, Dongyu
contents We study the signum consensus protocol in continuous-time systems over arbitrary weighted directed graphs with bounded disturbances. The right-hand side of the differential equation is discontinuous on a codimension-$n$ manifold ($n > 1$). On such a manifold, the Filippov sliding vector is not uniquely determined. This results in non-unique solutions and makes the analysis of the system challenging. We define the Polarization Index as the supremum of the growth rate of the difference between the maximum and minimum agent states in the system, derive its closed-form expression, and show that some solution attains this supremum at all forward times except during consensus. From this result, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for consensus and provide a least upper bound on consensus time. To address the high computational complexity of evaluating the Polarization Index, we propose a low-average-complexity algorithm. Finally, we develop an opinion dynamics model grounded in the signum consensus protocol, revealing a fundamental link between dissensus and community structures.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_06080
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle From Control to Opinion Dynamics: Signum Consensus Protocol on Arbitrary Weighted Directed Graphs
Li, Mingxi
Wang, Hanzhou
Li, Dongyu
Dynamical Systems
Optimization and Control
93C10, 34A60, 93A14, 93D50, 93D40, 90C11, 05C82, 91D30
We study the signum consensus protocol in continuous-time systems over arbitrary weighted directed graphs with bounded disturbances. The right-hand side of the differential equation is discontinuous on a codimension-$n$ manifold ($n > 1$). On such a manifold, the Filippov sliding vector is not uniquely determined. This results in non-unique solutions and makes the analysis of the system challenging. We define the Polarization Index as the supremum of the growth rate of the difference between the maximum and minimum agent states in the system, derive its closed-form expression, and show that some solution attains this supremum at all forward times except during consensus. From this result, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for consensus and provide a least upper bound on consensus time. To address the high computational complexity of evaluating the Polarization Index, we propose a low-average-complexity algorithm. Finally, we develop an opinion dynamics model grounded in the signum consensus protocol, revealing a fundamental link between dissensus and community structures.
title From Control to Opinion Dynamics: Signum Consensus Protocol on Arbitrary Weighted Directed Graphs
topic Dynamical Systems
Optimization and Control
93C10, 34A60, 93A14, 93D50, 93D40, 90C11, 05C82, 91D30
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.06080