Balanced Hodge Laplacians optimize consensus dynamics over simplicial complexes
Cameron Ziegler, Per Sebastian Skardal, Haimonti Dutta, Dane Taylor
Abstract
Despite the vast literature on network dynamics, we still lack basic insights into dynamics on higher-order structures (e.g., edges, triangles, and more generally, k-dimensional "simplices") and how they are influenced through higher-order interactions. A prime example lies in neuroscience where groups of neurons (not individual ones) may provide building blocks for neurocomputation. Here, we study consensus dynamics on edges in simplicial complexes using a type of Laplacian matrix called a Hodge Laplacian, which we generalize to allow higher- and lower-order interactions to have different strengths. Using techniques from algebraic topology, we study how collective dynamics converge to a low-dimensional subspace that corresponds to the homology space of the simplicial complex. We use the Hodge decomposition to show that higher- and lower-order interactions can be optimally balanced to maximally accelerate convergence and that this optimum coincides with a balancing of dynamics on the curl and gradient subspaces. We additionally explore the effects of network topology, finding that consensus over edges is accelerated when two-simplices are well dispersed, as opposed to clustered together.