Kinetic SIS opinion-driven models with asymmetric awareness feedback: macroscopic limit and polarization

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Pinasco, Juan Pablo, Saintier, Nicolas, Tettamanti, Horacio, Zanella, Mattia
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Pinasco, Juan Pablo
Saintier, Nicolas
Tettamanti, Horacio
Zanella, Mattia
author_facet Pinasco, Juan Pablo
Saintier, Nicolas
Tettamanti, Horacio
Zanella, Mattia
contents We study a kinetic multi-agent framework coupling opinion dynamics with epidemic spreading, where individual social behaviour both affects and is affected by disease transmission. Each agent is characterised by an epidemiological state and a continuous opinion variable measuring compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions. The key mechanism of the model is an asymmetric opinion update driven by epidemic encounters: infection events induce more cautious attitudes, while failed transmissions push individuals toward more extreme opinions. We focus on a prototypical SIS setting, for which we derive a macroscopic kinetic description and, in a fast social-interaction regime, a reduced system of differential equations capturing the feedback between epidemic prevalence and opinion evolution. Convergence of the reduced model is rigorously quantified through a modified Wasserstein distance. Numerical simulations highlight how infection-induced awareness and non-infection-driven extremization jointly shape collective epidemic-opinion dynamics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_12041
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Kinetic SIS opinion-driven models with asymmetric awareness feedback: macroscopic limit and polarization
Pinasco, Juan Pablo
Saintier, Nicolas
Tettamanti, Horacio
Zanella, Mattia
Physics and Society
92D30, 35Q20, 35Q84, 35Q92
We study a kinetic multi-agent framework coupling opinion dynamics with epidemic spreading, where individual social behaviour both affects and is affected by disease transmission. Each agent is characterised by an epidemiological state and a continuous opinion variable measuring compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions. The key mechanism of the model is an asymmetric opinion update driven by epidemic encounters: infection events induce more cautious attitudes, while failed transmissions push individuals toward more extreme opinions. We focus on a prototypical SIS setting, for which we derive a macroscopic kinetic description and, in a fast social-interaction regime, a reduced system of differential equations capturing the feedback between epidemic prevalence and opinion evolution. Convergence of the reduced model is rigorously quantified through a modified Wasserstein distance. Numerical simulations highlight how infection-induced awareness and non-infection-driven extremization jointly shape collective epidemic-opinion dynamics.
title Kinetic SIS opinion-driven models with asymmetric awareness feedback: macroscopic limit and polarization
topic Physics and Society
92D30, 35Q20, 35Q84, 35Q92
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.12041