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This paper revisits a fundamental distributed computing problem in the population protocol model. Provided $n$ agents each starting with an input color in $[k]$, the relative majority problem asks to find the predominant color. In the…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2025-05-06 Tom-Lukas Breitkopf , Julien Dallot , Antoine El-Hayek , Stefan Schmid

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

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

Population protocols are a well-studied model of distributed computation in which a group of anonymous finite-state agents communicates via pairwise interactions. Together they decide whether their initial configuration, that is, the…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2024-05-03 Steffen van Bergerem , Roland Guttenberg , Sandra Kiefer , Corto Mascle , Nicolas Waldburger , Chana Weil-Kennedy

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 form a well-established model of computation of passively mobile anonymous agents with constant-size memory. It is well known that population protocols compute Presburger-definable predicates, such as absolute majority…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2023-07-06 Michael Blondin , François Ladouceur

A population protocol can be viewed as a sequence of pairwise interactions of $n$ agents (nodes). During one interaction, two agents selected uniformly at random update their states by applying a specified deterministic transition function.…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2018-06-12 Petra Berenbrink , Robert Elsässer , Tom Friedetzky , Dominik Kaaser , Peter Kling , Tomasz Radzik

We consider \emph{plurality consensus} in a network of $n$ nodes. Initially, each node has one of $k$ opinions. The nodes execute a (randomized) distributed protocol to agree on the plurality opinion (the opinion initially supported by the…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2016-02-04 Petra Berenbrink , Tom Friedetzky , Peter Kling , Frederik Mallmann-Trenn , Chris Wastell

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

We investigate space-time trade-offs for population protocols in sparse interaction graphs. In complete interaction graphs, optimal space-time trade-offs are known for the leader election and exact majority problems. However, it has…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2026-02-19 Joel Rybicki , Jakob Solnerzik , Robin Vacus

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 population protocol corresponds to a collection of anonymous agents, modeled by…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2009-07-20 Olivier Bournez , Philippe Chassaing , Johanne Cohen , Lucas Gerin , Xavier Koegler

In this work, we initiate the study of \emph{smoothed analysis} of population protocols. We consider a population protocol model where an adaptive adversary dictates the interactions between agents, but with probability $p$ every such…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2021-05-27 Gregory Schwartzman , Yuichi Sudo

We study the Consensus problem among $n$ agents, defined as follows. Initially, each agent holds one of two possible opinions. The goal is to reach a consensus configuration in which every agent shares the same opinion. To this end, agents…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2022-05-18 Petra Berenbrink , Amin Coja-Oghlan , Oliver Gebhard , Max Hahn-Klimroth , Dominik Kaaser , Malin Rau

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

We study the scalability of consensus-based distributed optimization algorithms by considering two questions: How many processors should we use for a given problem, and how often should they communicate when communication is not free?…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2012-09-06 Konstantinos I. Tsianos , Sean Lawlor , Michael G. Rabbat

We address the self-stabilizing exact majority problem in the population protocol model, introduced by Angluin, Aspnes, Diamadi, Fischer, and Peralta (2004). In this model, there are $n$ state machines, called agents, which form a network.…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2025-06-03 Haruki Kanaya , Ryota Eguchi , Taisho Sasada , Fukuhito Ooshita , Michiko Inoue

Population protocols are a formal model of sensor networks consisting of identical mobile devices. Two devices can interact and thereby change their states. Computations are infinite sequences of interactions in which the interacting…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2018-07-03 Michael Blondin , Javier Esparza , Antonín Kučera

We consider the model of population protocols, which can be viewed as a sequence of random pairwise interactions of $n$ agents (nodes). We show population protocols for two problems: the leader election and the exact majority voting. The…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2017-05-04 Andreas Bilke , Colin Cooper , Robert Elsaesser , Tomasz Radzik

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