CONSENSUS FORMATION IN WEIGHTED SCALE-FREE NETWORKS

We develop a consensus model for studying opinion dynamics in weighed networks and investigate the effects of both the distribution of weights and the correlations between weight and degree on dynamical behaviors of opinion formation. Our results suggest that a global consensus in the weighted networks to reach is more difficult than that in unweighted network, and strongly depends on the heterogeneity of connection strengths. In addition, in the weighted network with very large heterogeneity of connection strengths, only single macroscopic opinion cluster can be formed, which differs from the behavior in the unweighted network where the next-largest macroscopic opinion cluster may exist.