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arXiv · 2602.08704

Boundary-Value Friedkin-Johnsen Dynamics and Influence-Based Centralities on Networks

Moses Boudourides
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Abstract

Understanding which nodes are most able to transmit or receive influence is a central problem in networked opinion dynamics, yet topology-only centrality measures do not account for heterogeneous susceptibility to social influence. We study source-specific, susceptibility-dependent influence in the Friedkin-Johnsen model on directed weighted networks. By treating fully stubborn agents as boundary nodes and the remaining agents as interior nodes, we formulate the dynamics as a discrete boundary-value problem. This formulation yields a Green operator and an all-source steady-state response matrix that quantify how a fixed opinion at each source propagates to every target. Building on this response matrix, we define influence-based broadcasting and reception measures that distinguish structural position from model-implied influence. We establish conditions for existence and uniqueness of the steady state, derive transient and steady-state representations, and characterize sensitivity to susceptibility parameters and perturbations of the influence network. For the undirected homogeneous-susceptibility specialization, we also provide a corresponding spectral analysis. Computational experiments on benchmark networks illustrate how heterogeneous susceptibility profiles shape response-based rankings and how these rankings differ from topology-only centralities. The framework provides a basis for studying influence propagation, source selection, and susceptibility-aware network intervention.

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Moses Boudourides. 2026-02-09. Boundary-Value Friedkin-Johnsen Dynamics and Influence-Based Centralities on Networks. https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.08704

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