English

Does a Single Zealot Affect an Infinite Group of Voters ?

Statistical Mechanics 2007-05-23 v2 Disordered Systems and Neural Networks Physics and Society

Abstract

A method for studying exact properties of a class of {\it inhomogeneous} stochastic many-body systems is developed and presented in the framework of a voter model perturbed by the presence of a ``zealot'', an individual allowed to favour an opinion. We compute exactly the magnetization of this model and find that in one (1d) and two dimensions (2d) it evolves, algebraically (t1/2\sim t^{-1/2}) in 1d and much slower (1/lnt\sim 1/\ln{t}) in 2d, towards the unanimity state chosen by the zealot. In higher dimensions the stationary magnetization is no longer uniform: the zealot cannot influence all the individuals. Implications to other physical problems are also pointed out.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0304670,
  title  = {Does a Single Zealot Affect an Infinite Group of Voters ?},
  author = {Mauro Mobilia},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0304670},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

4 pages, 2-column revtex4 format