An Approximate-Master-Equation Formulation of the Watts Threshold Model on Hypergraphs

In traditional models of behavioral or opinion dynamics on social networks, researchers suppose that all interactions occur between pairs of individuals. However, in reality, social interactions also occur in groups of three or more individuals. A common way to incorporate such polyadic interactions is to study dynamical processes on hypergraphs. In a hypergraph, interactions can occur between any number of the individuals in a network. The Watts threshold model (WTM) is a well-known model of a simplistic social spreading process. Very recently, Chen et al. extended the WTM from dyadic networks (i.e., graphs) to polyadic networks (i.e., hypergraphs). In the present paper, we extend their discrete-time model to continuous time using approximate master equations (AMEs). By using AMEs, we are able to model the system with very high accuracy. We then reduce the high-dimensional AME system to a system of three coupled differential equations without any detectable loss of accuracy. This much lower-dimensional system is more computationally efficient to solve numerically and is also easier to interpret. We linearize the reduced AME system and calculate a cascade condition, which allows us to determine when a large spreading event occurs. We then apply our model to a social contact network of a French primary school and to a hypergraph of computer-science coauthorships. We find that the AME system is accurate in modelling the polyadic WTM on these empirical networks; however, we expect that future work that incorporates structural correlations between nearby nodes and groups into the model for the dynamics will lead to more accurate theory for real-world networks.