English

Reaching consensus on a connected graph

Probability 2020-08-12 v2

Abstract

We study a simple random process in which vertices of a connected graph reach consensus through pairwise interactions. We compute outcome probabilities, which do not depend on the graph structure, and consider the expected time until a consensus is reached. In some cases we are able to show that this is minimised by KnK_n. We prove an upper bound for the case p=0p=0 and give a family of graphs which asymptotically achieve this bound. In order to obtain the mean of the waiting time we also study a gambler's ruin process with delays. We give the mean absorption time and prove that it monotonically increases with p[0,1/2]p\in[0,1/2] for symmetric delays.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1511.05435,
  title  = {Reaching consensus on a connected graph},
  author = {John Haslegrave and Mate Puljiz},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1511.05435},
  year   = {2020}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T11:47:32.345Z