A multi-temperature kinetic Ising model and its applications to partisanship dynamics in the US Senate

Abstract

Abstract As the political landscape becomes increasingly complex, the classic paradigms used in political science have failed to remain relevant and other methods of study are needed. We introduce a population dynamics model and a multi-temperature kinetic Ising model to analyze the partisanship dynamics of the US Senate. We use Monte Carlo simulations, mean field theory and numerical analysis of the master equation of a system of 100 senators (agents) separated into various categories based on their political leanings and interactions with each other. Results show an interesting development of partisanship between the agents after a short time. The model can be extended to other cooperative stochastic systems in physics and social sciences.