Hybrid balance theory: Heider balance under higher-order interactions

Abstract

Heider's balance theory in signed networks, which consists of friendship or enmity relationships, is a model that relates the type of relationship between two people to the third person. In this model, there is an assumption of the independence of triadic relations, which means that the balance or imbalance of one triangle does not affect another and the energy only depends on the number of each type of triangle. There is evidence that in real network data, in addition to third-order interactions (Heider balance), higher-order interactions also play a role. One step beyond the Heider balance, the effect of quartic balance has been studied by removing the assumption of triangular independence. The application of quartic balance results in the influence of the balanced or imbalanced state of neighboring triangles on each specific one. Here, a question arises as to how the Heider balance is affected by the existence of quartic balance (fourth order). To answer this question, we presented a model which has both third- and fourth-order interactions and we called it a hybrid balance theory. The phase diagram obtained from the mean-field approximation shows there is a threshold for higher-order interaction strength, below which a third-order interaction dominates and there are no imbalance triangles in the network, and above this threshold, squares effectively determine the balance state in which the imbalance triangles can survive. The solution of the mean-field indicates that we have a first-order phase transition in terms of the random behavior of agents (temperature) which is in accordance with the Monte Carlo simulation results.