English

Quantum social networks

Physics and Society 2012-07-17 v2 Social and Information Networks Quantum Physics

Abstract

We introduce a physical approach to social networks (SNs) in which each actor is characterized by a yes-no test on a physical system. This allows us to consider SNs beyond those originated by interactions based on pre-existing properties, as in a classical SN (CSN). As an example of SNs beyond CSNs, we introduce quantum SNs (QSNs) in which actor is characterized by a test of whether or not the system is in a quantum state. We show that QSNs outperform CSNs for a certain task and some graphs. We identify the simplest of these graphs and show that graphs in which QSNs outperform CSNs are increasingly frequent as the number of vertices increases. We also discuss more general SNs and identify the simplest graphs in which QSNs cannot be outperformed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1112.0617,
  title  = {Quantum social networks},
  author = {Adan Cabello and Lars Eirik Danielsen and Antonio J. Lopez-Tarrida and Jose R. Portillo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1112.0617},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

REVTeX4, 6 pages, 3 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-21T19:45:36.230Z