Environment-Driven Emergence of Higher-Order Collective Behavior
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arXiv
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| Auteurs principaux: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866912909417775104 |
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| author | Abril-Bermúdez, Felipe S. Fisher, David N. Gramain, Jean-Baptiste Pérez-Reche, Francisco J. |
| author_facet | Abril-Bermúdez, Felipe S. Fisher, David N. Gramain, Jean-Baptiste Pérez-Reche, Francisco J. |
| contents | Collective behavior is commonly attributed to direct interactions among system components. Using a minimal stochastic model, we show that higher-order collective structure can instead emerge from shared stochastic environments, even in the absence of interactions. Quantified via the O-information, environmental fluctuations induce both redundant and synergistic dependencies, with the latter occupying larger regions of the correlation space. We establish a no-go theorem showing that time-independent coupling between the system variables and a shared stochastic environment rules out synergistic higher-order behavior. Crucially, this constraint can be overcome dynamically: transitions between redundancy and synergy arise from time-dependent environmental coupling or from the nontrivial interplay between shared environments and direct interactions. Together, these results identify environmental mediation as a distinct mechanism of higher-order collective organization beyond the conventional interaction-centric paradigm. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_15256 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Environment-Driven Emergence of Higher-Order Collective Behavior Abril-Bermúdez, Felipe S. Fisher, David N. Gramain, Jean-Baptiste Pérez-Reche, Francisco J. Physics and Society Mathematical Physics Applied Physics Collective behavior is commonly attributed to direct interactions among system components. Using a minimal stochastic model, we show that higher-order collective structure can instead emerge from shared stochastic environments, even in the absence of interactions. Quantified via the O-information, environmental fluctuations induce both redundant and synergistic dependencies, with the latter occupying larger regions of the correlation space. We establish a no-go theorem showing that time-independent coupling between the system variables and a shared stochastic environment rules out synergistic higher-order behavior. Crucially, this constraint can be overcome dynamically: transitions between redundancy and synergy arise from time-dependent environmental coupling or from the nontrivial interplay between shared environments and direct interactions. Together, these results identify environmental mediation as a distinct mechanism of higher-order collective organization beyond the conventional interaction-centric paradigm. |
| title | Environment-Driven Emergence of Higher-Order Collective Behavior |
| topic | Physics and Society Mathematical Physics Applied Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.15256 |