Opinion formation in the kinetic exchange models: Spontaneous symmetry breaking transition

We propose a minimal multi-agent model for the collective dynamics of opinion formation in the society, by modifying kinetic exchange dynamics studied in the context of income, money or wealth distributions in a society. This model has an intriguing spontaneous symmetry breaking transition to polarized opinion state starting from non-polarized opinion state. In order to analyze the model, we introduce an iterative map version of the model, which has very similar statistical characteristics. An approximate theoretical analysis of the numerical results are also given, based on the iterative map version.

💡 Research Summary

The paper introduces a minimalist multi‑agent model for opinion dynamics by adapting the kinetic exchange framework originally developed for wealth distribution. Each agent i carries a continuous opinion variable O_i(t) (typically bounded between –1 and 1). When two agents i and j interact, the opinion of i is updated according to

  O_i(t + 1) = λ O_i(t) + ε O_j(t),

where λ∈