Phase transitions in the q-voter model with two types of stochastic driving

• Published in: Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics, 2012-07, Vol.86 (1 Pt 1), p.011105-011105, Article 011105
• Main Authors: Nyczka, Piotr, Sznajd-Weron, Katarzyna, Cisło, Jerzy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Computer Simulation; Models, Chemical; Models, Statistical; Phase Transition; Stochastic Processes
• ISSN: 1539-3755; 1550-2376
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.86.011105

We study a nonlinear q-voter model with stochastic driving on a complete graph. We investigate two types of stochasticity that, using the language of social sciences, can be interpreted as different kinds of nonconformity. From a social point of view, it is very important to distinguish between two types nonconformity, so-called anticonformity and independence. A majority of work has suggested that these social differences may be completely irrelevant in terms of microscopic modeling that uses tools of statistical physics and that both types of nonconformity play the role of so-called social temperature. In this paper we clarify the concept of social temperature and show that different types of noise may lead to qualitatively different emergent properties. In particular, we show that in the model with anticonformity the critical value of noise increases with parameter q, whereas in the model with independence the critical value of noise decreases with q. Moreover, in the model with anticonformity the phase transition is continuous for any value of q, whereas in the model with independence the transition is continuous for q ≤ 5 and discontinuous for q>5.