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Related papers: The computational power of population protocols

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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

A population protocol stably computes a relation R(x,y) if its output always stabilizes and R(x,y) holds if and only if y is a possible output for input x. Alternatively, a population protocol computes a predicate R(<x,y>) on pairs <x,y> if…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2024-12-04 James Aspnes

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

When studying safety properties of (formal) protocol models, it is customary to view the scheduler as an adversary: an entity trying to falsify the safety property. We show that in the context of security protocols, and in particular of…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2007-06-08 Flavio D. Garcia , Peter van Rossum , Ana Sokolova

Broadcast consensus protocols (BCPs) are a model of computation, in which anonymous, identical, finite-state agents compute by sending/receiving global broadcasts. BCPs are known to compute all number predicates in…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2021-01-12 Philipp Czerner , Stefan Jaax

We study here the dynamics (and stability) of Probabilistic Population Protocols, via the differential equations approach. We provide a quite general model and we show that it includes the model of Angluin et. al. in the case of very large…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2008-07-02 Ioannis Chatzigiannakis , Paul G. Spirakis

We consider the population protocol model where indistinguishable state machines, referred to as agents, communicate in pairs. The communication graph specifies potential interactions (\ie communication) between agent pairs. This paper…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2024-08-26 Haruki Kanaya , Yuichi Sudo

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

We consider the fundamental problem of assigning distinct labels to agents in the probabilistic model of population protocols. Our protocols operate under the assumption that the size $n$ of the population is embedded in the transition…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2021-12-21 Leszek Gasieniec , Jesper Jansson , Christos Levcopoulos , Andrzej Lingas

We study population protocols, a model of distributed computing appropriate for modeling well-mixed chemical reaction networks and other physical systems where agents exchange information in pairwise interactions, but have no control over…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2022-01-24 David Doty , Mahsa Eftekhari , Leszek Gąsieniec , Eric Severson , Grzegorz Stachowiak , Przemysław Uznański

Population protocols (Angluin et al., PODC, 2004) 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…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2018-08-15 Javier Esparza , Pierre Ganty , Rupak Majumdar , Chana Weil-Kennedy

We study uniform population protocols: networks of anonymous agents whose pairwise interactions are chosen at random, where each agent uses an identical transition algorithm that does not depend on the population size $n$. Many existing…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2019-07-30 David Doty , Mahsa Eftekhari

We present a silent, self-stabilizing ranking protocol for the population protocol model of distributed computing, where agents interact in randomly chosen pairs to solve a common task. We are given $n$ anonymous agents, and the goal is to…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2025-04-15 Petra Berenbrink , Robert Elsässer , Thorsten Götte , Lukas Hintze , Dominik Kaaser

Distributed function computation is the problem, for a networked system of $n$ autonomous agents, to collectively compute the value $f(v_1, \ldots, v_n)$ of some input values, each initially private to one agent in the network. Here, we…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2023-11-30 Bernadette Charron-Bost , Patrick Lambein-Monette

The population protocol model describes a network of anonymous agents that interact asynchronously in pairs chosen at random. Each agent starts in the same initial state $s$. We introduce the *dynamic size counting* problem: approximately…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2022-02-28 David Doty , Mahsa Eftekhari

Population protocols are a model of distributed computing, in which $n$ agents with limited local state interact randomly, and cooperate to collectively compute global predicates. An extensive series of papers, across different communities,…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2017-07-17 Dan Alistarh , James Aspnes , Rati Gelashvili

In the secure two-party computation problem, two parties wish to compute a (possibly randomized) function of their inputs via an interactive protocol, while ensuring that neither party learns more than what can be inferred from only their…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2014-12-16 Ye Wang , Prakash Ishwar , Shantanu Rane

Population protocols are a model of distributed computation in which a collection of indistinguishable finite-state agents interact randomly in pairs to decide a predicate of their initial configuration. The agents decide by achieving a…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2026-05-01 Philipp Czerner , Javier Esparza , Vincent Fischer , Roland Guttenberg , Julian Pins , Simon Reilich

We consider the task of anonymously transmitting a quantum message in a network. We present a protocol that accomplishes this task using the W state and we analyze its performance in a quantum network where some form of noise is present. We…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-11-26 Victoria Lipinska , Gláucia Murta , Stephanie Wehner

We present and explore a model of stateless and self-stabilizing distributed computation, inspired by real-world applications such as routing on today's Internet. Processors in our model do not have an internal state, but rather interact by…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2016-12-01 Danny Dolev , Michael Erdmann , Neil Lutz , Michael Schapira , Adva Zair