中国物理B ›› 2025, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (3): 38704-038704.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/adacc8

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Explosive information spreading in higher-order networks: Effect of social reinforcement

Yu Zhou(周宇)1, Yingpeng Liu(刘英鹏)1, Liang Yuan(袁亮)1, Youhao Zhuo(卓友濠)1, Kesheng Xu(徐克生)1, Jiao Wu(吴娇)2,†, and Muhua Zheng(郑木华)1   

  1. 1 School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China;
    2 School of Mathematical Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
  • 收稿日期:2024-12-17 修回日期:2025-01-14 接受日期:2025-01-22 出版日期:2025-03-15 发布日期:2025-03-15
  • 通讯作者: Jiao Wu E-mail:wujiao@ujs.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12305043 and 12165016), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20220511), and the Project of Undergraduate Scientific Research (Grant No. 22A684).

Explosive information spreading in higher-order networks: Effect of social reinforcement

Yu Zhou(周宇)1, Yingpeng Liu(刘英鹏)1, Liang Yuan(袁亮)1, Youhao Zhuo(卓友濠)1, Kesheng Xu(徐克生)1, Jiao Wu(吴娇)2,†, and Muhua Zheng(郑木华)1   

  1. 1 School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China;
    2 School of Mathematical Sciences, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
  • Received:2024-12-17 Revised:2025-01-14 Accepted:2025-01-22 Online:2025-03-15 Published:2025-03-15
  • Contact: Jiao Wu E-mail:wujiao@ujs.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12305043 and 12165016), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20220511), and the Project of Undergraduate Scientific Research (Grant No. 22A684).

摘要: Information spreading has been investigated for many years, but the mechanism of why the information explosively catches on overnight is still under debate. This explosive spreading phenomenon was usually considered driven separately by social reinforcement or higher-order interactions. However, due to the limitations of empirical data and theoretical analysis, how the higher-order network structure affects the explosive information spreading under the role of social reinforcement has not been fully explored. In this work, we propose an information-spreading model by considering the social reinforcement in real and synthetic higher-order networks, describable as hypergraphs. Depending on the average group size (hyperedge cardinality) and node membership (hyperdegree), we observe two different spreading behaviors: (i) The spreading progress is not sensitive to social reinforcement, resulting in the information localized in a small part of nodes; (ii) a strong social reinforcement will promote the large-scale spread of information and induce an explosive transition. Moreover, a large average group size and membership would be beneficial to the appearance of the explosive transition. Further, we display that the heterogeneity of the node membership and group size distributions benefit the information spreading. Finally, we extend the group-based approximate master equations to verify the simulation results. Our findings may help us to comprehend the rapidly information-spreading phenomenon in modern society.

关键词: explosive information spreading, social reinforcement, higher-order interactions, complex network

Abstract: Information spreading has been investigated for many years, but the mechanism of why the information explosively catches on overnight is still under debate. This explosive spreading phenomenon was usually considered driven separately by social reinforcement or higher-order interactions. However, due to the limitations of empirical data and theoretical analysis, how the higher-order network structure affects the explosive information spreading under the role of social reinforcement has not been fully explored. In this work, we propose an information-spreading model by considering the social reinforcement in real and synthetic higher-order networks, describable as hypergraphs. Depending on the average group size (hyperedge cardinality) and node membership (hyperdegree), we observe two different spreading behaviors: (i) The spreading progress is not sensitive to social reinforcement, resulting in the information localized in a small part of nodes; (ii) a strong social reinforcement will promote the large-scale spread of information and induce an explosive transition. Moreover, a large average group size and membership would be beneficial to the appearance of the explosive transition. Further, we display that the heterogeneity of the node membership and group size distributions benefit the information spreading. Finally, we extend the group-based approximate master equations to verify the simulation results. Our findings may help us to comprehend the rapidly information-spreading phenomenon in modern society.

Key words: explosive information spreading, social reinforcement, higher-order interactions, complex network

中图分类号:  (Dynamics of social systems)

  • 87.23.Ge
64.60.aq (Networks)