Ecosystem models and social balance from a synchronization perspective

Abstract

In this paper, a connection between Heider social balance theory and synchronization patterns of a triad of oscillators is investigated. It is shown that the Heider and Kuramoto diagrams can be identified in a way that is consistent with the interpretation of cognitive states in Heider’s theory and with the behavior of coexisting species in a network of ecosystems. While most of this work focuses on networks with predefined fixed couplings, a preliminary investigation of an evolution model for the links of the network is presented, where a universal order parameter allows to formulate a feedback of the status of the oscillators to the coupling links.