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Related papers: Population Protocols Are Fast

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In population protocols, the underlying distributed network consists of $n$ nodes (or agents), denoted by $V$, and a scheduler that continuously selects uniformly random pairs of nodes to interact. When two nodes interact, their states are…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2020-11-26 Stav Ben-Nun , Tsvi Kopelowitz , Matan Kraus , Ely Porat

We consider the problem of efficiently simulating population protocols. In the population model, we are given a distributed system of $n$ agents modeled as identical finite-state machines. In each time step, a pair of agents is selected…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2020-05-08 Petra Berenbrink , David Hammer , Dominik Kaaser , Ulrich Meyer , Manuel Penschuck , Hung Tran

The population protocol model describes a network of $n$ anonymous agents who cannot control with whom they interact. The agents collectively solve some computational problem through random pairwise interactions, each agent updating its own…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2021-10-25 David Doty , Mahsa Eftekhari

We study the problems of leader election and population size counting for population protocols: networks of finite-state anonymous agents that interact randomly under a uniform random scheduler. We show a protocol for leader election that…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2018-06-08 Othon Michail , Paul G. Spirakis , Michail Theofilatos

We consider the problem of counting the population size in the population model. In this model, we are given a distributed system of $n$ identical agents which interact in pairs with the goal to solve a common task. In each time step, the…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2019-05-29 Petra Berenbrink , Dominik Kaaser , Tomasz Radzik

Population protocols are a model of distributed computing where $n$ agents, each a simple finite-state machine, interact in pairs to solve a common task against a (adversarial) interaction scheduler. This model was intensively studied in…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2026-05-19 Tom-Lukas Breitkopf , Julien Dallot , Antoine El-Hayek , Stefan Schmid

Population protocols are a model of computation in which an arbitrary number of anonymous finite-memory agents are interacting in order to decide by stable consensus a predicate. In this paper, we focus on the counting predicates that asks,…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2022-03-25 Jérôme Leroux

Population protocols are a model of computation in which an arbitrary number of indistinguishable finite-state agents interact in pairs. The goal of the agents is to decide by stable consensus whether their initial global configuration…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2022-07-13 Philipp Czerner , Javier Esparza , Jérôme Leroux

We present a loosely-stabilizing phase clock for population protocols. In the population model we are given a system of $n$ identical agents which interact in a sequence of randomly chosen pairs. Our phase clock is leaderless and it…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2021-12-03 Petra Berenbrink , Felix Biermeier , Christopher Hahn , Dominik Kaaser

Let $G$ be a graph on $n$ nodes. In the stochastic population protocol model, a collection of $n$ indistinguishable, resource-limited nodes collectively solve tasks via pairwise interactions. In each interaction, two randomly chosen…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2021-05-13 Dan Alistarh , Rati Gelashvili , Joel Rybicki

Population protocols are a well established model of distributed computation by mobile finite-state agents with very limited storage. A classical result establishes that population protocols compute exactly predicates definable in…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2018-03-08 Michael Blondin , Javier Esparza , Stefan Jaax

Population protocols have been introduced as a model of sensor networks consisting of very limited mobile agents with no control over their own movement: A collection of anonymous agents, modeled by finite automata, interact in pairs…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2009-06-18 Olivier Bournez , Jérémie Chalopin , Johanne Cohen , Xavier Koegler

The model of population protocols refers to the growing in popularity theoretical framework suitable for studying pairwise interactions within a large collection of simple indistinguishable entities, frequently called agents. In this paper…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2018-03-28 Leszek Gasieniec , Grzegorz Stachowiak

The {\em parallel time} of a population protocol is defined as the average number of required interactions that an agent in the protocol participates, i.e., the quotient between the total number of interactions required by the protocol and…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2021-08-27 Artur Czumaj , Andrzej Lingas

We introduce a new coordination problem in distributed computing that we call the population stability problem. A system of agents each with limited memory and communication, as well as the ability to replicate and self-destruct, is…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2018-03-09 Shafi Goldwasser , Rafail Ostrovsky , Alessandra Scafuro , Adam Sealfon

Population protocols are a class of algorithms for modeling distributed computation in networks of finite-state agents communicating through pairwise interactions. Their suitability for analyzing numerous chemical processes has motivated…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2023-04-04 Talley Amir , James Aspnes , John Lazarsfeld

Population protocols are networks of finite-state agents, interacting randomly, and updating their states using simple rules. Despite their extreme simplicity, these systems have been shown to cooperatively perform complex computational…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2017-04-18 Dan Alistarh , Rati Gelashvili

We study exact majority consensus in the population protocol model. In this model, the system is described by a graph $G = (V,E)$ with $n$ nodes, and in each time step, a scheduler samples uniformly at random a pair of adjacent nodes to…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2025-11-04 Joel Rybicki , Jakob Solnerzik , Olivier Stietel , Robin Vacus

Population protocols have been introduced by Angluin et {al.} as a model of networks consisting of very limited mobile agents that interact in pairs but with no control over their own movement. A collection of anonymous agents, modeled by…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2009-07-20 Olivier Bournez , Jeremie Chalopin , Johanne Cohen , Xavier Koegler

In this work, we study protocols so that populations of distributed processes can construct networks. In order to highlight the basic principles of distributed network construction we keep the model minimal in all respects. In particular,…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2014-07-11 Othon Michail , Paul G. Spirakis