The spontaneous formation and subsequent growth, dissolution, merger and competition of social groups bears similarities to physical phase transitions in metastable finite systems. We examine three different scenarios, percolation, spinodal decomposition and nucleation, to describe the formation of social groups of varying size and density. In our agent-based model, we use a feedback between the opinions of agents and their ability to establish links. Groups can restrict further link formation, but agents can also leave if costs exceed the group benefits. We identify the critical parameters for costs/benefits and social influence to obtain either one large group or the stable coexistence of several groups with different opinions. Analytic investigations allow to derive different critical densities that control the formation and coexistence of groups. Our novel approach sheds new light on the early stage of network growth and the emergence of large connected components.

中文翻译：

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社会成核：作为相变的群体形成

社会群体的自发形成和随后的成长、解体、合并和竞争与亚稳态有限系统中的物理相变具有相似之处。我们研究了三种不同的场景，即渗透、旋节线分解和成核，以描述不同规模和密度的社会群体的形成。在我们基于代理的模型中，我们使用代理的意见与其建立链接的能力之间的反馈。组可以限制进一步的链接形成，但如果成本超过组收益，代理也可以离开。我们确定成本/收益和社会影响的关键参数，以获得一个大群体或具有不同意见的几个群体的稳定共存。分析调查允许推导出控制群体形成和共存的不同临界密度。我们的新方法揭示了网络增长的早期阶段和大型连接组件的出现。