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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

A population protocol describes a set of state change rules for a population of $n$ indistinguishable finite-state agents (automata), undergoing random pairwise interactions. Within this very basic framework, it is possible to resolve a…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2018-04-19 Adrian Kosowski , Przemysław Uznański

The standard population protocol model assumes that when two agents interact, each observes the entire state of the other agent. We initiate the study of $\textit{message complexity}$ for population protocols, where the state of an agent is…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2021-12-16 Talley Amir , James Aspnes , David Doty , Mahsa Eftekhari , Eric Severson

Off-Policy Prediction (OPP), i.e., predicting the outcomes of a target policy using only data collected under a nominal (behavioural) policy, is a paramount problem in data-driven analysis of safety-critical systems where the deployment of…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2025-04-01 Tom Kuipers , Renukanandan Tumu , Shuo Yang , Milad Kazemi , Rahul Mangharam , Nicola Paoletti

In the distributed localization problem (DLP), $n$ anonymous robots (agents) $a_0, a_1, ..., a_{n-1}$ begin at arbitrary positions $p_0, ..., p_{n-1}$ in $S$, where $S$ is an Euclidean space. The primary goal in DLP is for agents to reach a…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2025-05-09 Leszek Gąsieniec , Łukasz Kuszner , Ehsan Latif , Ramviyas Parasuraman , Paul Spirakis , Grzegorz Stachowiak

The Population Protocol model is a distributed model that concerns systems of very weak computational entities that cannot control the way they interact. The model of Network Constructors is a variant of Population Protocols capable of…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2015-12-10 Othon Michail , Paul G. Spirakis

Population protocols [Angluin et al., PODC, 2004] are a model of distributed computation in which indistinguishable, finite-state agents interact in pairs to decide if their initial configuration, i.e., the initial number of agents in each…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2021-02-10 Javier Esparza , Stefan Jaax , Mikhail Raskin , Chana Weil-Kennedy

The population protocol model describes collections of distributed agents that interact in pairs to solve a common task. We consider a dynamic variant of this prominent model, where we assume that an adversary may change the population size…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2024-05-09 Dominik Kaaser , Maximilian Lohmann

Interactive partially observable Markov decision processes (I-POMDP) provide a formal framework for planning for a self-interested agent in multiagent settings. An agent operating in a multiagent environment must deliberate about the…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2015-04-06 Ekhlas Sonu , Yingke Chen , Prashant Doshi

The population protocol model was introduced by Angluin \emph{et al.} as a model of passively mobile anonymous finite-state agents. This model computes a predicate on the multiset of their inputs via interactions by pairs. The original…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2016-02-12 Olivier Bournez , Johanne Cohen , Mikaël Rabie

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

Population protocols have been introduced by Angluin et al. as a model in which n passively mobile anonymous finite-state agents stably compute a predicate on the multiset of their inputs via interactions by pairs. The model has been…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2019-02-21 Olivier Bournez , Johanne Cohen , Mikaël Rabie

Many of society's most pressing challenges, from pandemic response to supply chain disruptions to climate adaptation, emerge from the collective behavior of millions of autonomous agents making decisions over time. Large Population Models…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2025-07-15 Ayush Chopra

Population protocols are a popular model of distributed computing, in which randomly-interacting agents with little computational power cooperate to jointly perform computational tasks. Inspired by developments in molecular computation, and…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2017-04-18 Dan Alistarh , James Aspnes , David Eisenstat , Rati Gelashvili , Ronald L. Rivest

Modern AI agents can exchange messages using protocols such as A2A and ACP, yet these mechanisms emphasize communication over coordination. As agent populations grow, this limitation produces brittle collective behavior, where individually…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2025-10-21 Ayush Chopra , Aman Sharma , Feroz Ahmad , Luca Muscariello , Vijoy Pandey , Ramesh Raskar

The population protocol model introduced by Angluin et al. in 2006 offers a theoretical framework for designing and analyzing distributed algorithms among limited-resource mobile agents. While the original population protocol model…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2023-05-05 Talley Amir , James Aspnes

Population protocols are a model of computation in which indistinguishable mobile agents interact in pairs to decide a property of their initial configuration. Originally introduced by Angluin et. al. in 2004 with a constant number of…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2025-04-09 Philipp Czerner , Vincent Fischer , Roland Guttenberg

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

Automated negotiation has been used in a variety of distributed settings, such as privacy in the Internet of Things (IoT) devices and power distribution in Smart Grids. The most common protocol under which these agents negotiate is the…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2020-03-31 Sam Vente , Angelika Kimmig , Alun Preece , Federico Cerutti

Methods like multi-agent reinforcement learning struggle to scale with growing population size. Mean-field games (MFGs) are a game-theoretic approach that can circumvent this by finding a solution for an abstract infinite population, which…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2025-12-23 Patrick Benjamin , Alessandro Abate