Time to absorption for a heterogeneous neutral competition model

Abstract

Neutral models aspire to explain biodiversity patterns in ecosystems where species difference can be neglected, as it might occur at a specific trophic level, and perfect symmetry is assumed between species. Voter-like models capture the essential ingredients of the neutral hypothesis and represent a paradigm for other disciplines like social studies and chemical reactions. In a system where each individual can interact with all the other members of the community, the typical time to reach an absorbing state with a single species scales linearly with the community size. Here we show, by using a rigorous approach within a large deviation principle and confirming previous approximate and numerical results, that in a heterogeneous voter model the typical time to reach an absorbing state scales exponentially with the system size, suggestive of an asymptotic active phase.

12 pages

References in corpus (10)

• Statistical physics of social dynamics
• The large deviation approach to statistical mechanics
• Neutral Theory and Relative Species Abundance in Ecology
• Stochastic Models of Evolution in Genetics, Ecology and Linguistics
• Heterogeneous Voter Models
• Langevin description of critical phenomena with two symmetric absorbing states
• Can Partisan Voting Lead to Truth?
• Coexistence in stochastic spatial models
• The effect of quenched disorder in neutral theories
• Coexistence and invasibility in a two-species competition model with habitat-preference

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Macroscopic limit of a bipartite Curie-Weiss model: a dynamical approach
• Consensus time in a voter model with concealed and publicly expressed opinions
• Rhythmic behavior in a two-population mean field Ising model