2005/06/11 by Dietrich Stauffer, Stauffer, Dietrich, Muhammad Sahimi +1
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph) #physics.soc-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.physics/0506106
11 pages including 6 figures; draft
arxiv created 2005/06/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
We propose a discrete model for how opinion about a given phenomenon, about which various groups of a population have different degrees of enthusiasm, such as fanaticism and extreme social and political positions, including terrorism, may spread. The model, in a certain limit, is the discrete analogue of a deterministic continuum model suggested by others. We carry out extensive computer simulation of the model by utilizing it on lattices with infinite- or short-range interactions, and on (directed) Barabasi-Albert scale-free networks. Several interesting features of the model are demonstrated, and comparison is made with the continuum model.