Tipping Points in 1-Dimensional Schelling Models with Switching Agents

Schelling’s spacial proximity model was an early agent-based model, illustrating how ethnic segregation can emerge, unwanted, from the actions of citizens acting according to individual local preferences. Here a 1-dimensional unperturbed variant is studied under switching agent dynamics, interpretable as being open in that agents may enter and exit the model. Following the authors’ work (Barmpalias et al., FOCS, 2014) and that of Brandt et al. (Proceedings of the 44th ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC 2012), 2012), rigorous asymptotic results are established. The dynamic allows either type to take over almost everywhere. Tipping points are identified between the regions of takeover and staticity. In a generalization of the models considered in [1] and [3], the model’s parameters comprise the initial proportions of the two types, along with independent values of the tolerance for each type. This model comprises a 1-dimensional spin-1 model with spin dependent external field, as well as providing an example of cascading behaviour within a network.