Separable games

Abstract: We present the notion of separable game with respect to a forward directed hypergraph (FDH-graph), which refines and generalizes that of graphical game. First, we show that there exists a minimal FDH-graph with respect to which a game is separable, providing a minimal complexity description for the game. Then, we prove a symmetry property of the minimal FDH-graph of potential games and we describe how it reflects to a decomposition of the potential function in terms of local functions. In particular, these last results strengthen the ones recently proved for graphical potential games. Finally, we study the interplay between separability and the decomposition of finite games in their harmonic and potential components, characterizing the separability properties of both such components.