The Polarization of the Coupling Strength of Interdependent Networks Stimulates Cooperation

Jinzhuo Liu; Yunchen Peng; Peican Zhu; Yong Yu

doi:10.3390/e24050694

The Polarization of the Coupling Strength of Interdependent Networks Stimulates Cooperation

Entropy (Basel). 2022 May 14;24(5):694. doi: 10.3390/e24050694.

Authors

Jinzhuo Liu^{1

2}, Yunchen Peng¹, Peican Zhu², Yong Yu¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Software, Yunnan University, Kunming 650504, China.
² School of Artificial Intelligence, Optics and Electronics (iOPEN), Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China.

Abstract

We introduce a mixed network coupling mechanism and study its effects on how cooperation evolves in interdependent networks. This mechanism allows some players (conservative-driven) to establish a fixed-strength coupling, while other players (radical-driven) adjust their coupling strength through the evolution of strategy. By means of numerical simulation, a hump-like relationship between the level of cooperation and conservative participant density is revealed. Interestingly, interspecies interactions stimulate polarization of the coupling strength of radical-driven players, promoting cooperation between two types of players. We thus demonstrate that a simple mixed network coupling mechanism substantially expands the scope of cooperation among structured populations.

Keywords: coevolution; cooperation; evolutionary game theory; interdependent network.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018AAA0100905), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 62073263, Grant No. 62866039), Science Foundation of Yunnan Province (Grant No. 202001BB050063), Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi Province (Grant No. 2022KW-26), the Open Foundation of Key Laboratory in Software Engineering of Yunnan Province (Grant No. 2020SE315), Technological Innovation Team of Shaanxi Province (Grant No. 2020TD-013).