Flocking of the Cucker-Smale and Motsch-Tadmor models on general weighted digraphs via a probabilistic method

Abstract: In this paper, we discuss the flocking phenomenon for the Cucker-Smale and Motsch-Tadmor models in continuous time on a general oriented and weighted graph with a general communication function. We present a new approach for studying this problem based on a probabilistic interpretation of the solutions. We provide flocking results under four assumptions on the interaction matrix and we highlight how they relate to the convergence in total variation of a certain Markov jump process. Indeed, we refine previous results on the minimal case where the graph admits a unique closed communication class. Considering the two particular cases where the adjacency matrix is scrambling or where it admits a positive reversible measure, we improve the flocking condition obtained for the minimal case. In the last case, we characterise the asymptotic speed. We also study the hierarchical leadership case where we give a new general flocking condition which allows to deal with the case $\psi(r)\propto(1+r^2)^{-\beta/2}$ and $\beta\geq1$. For the Motsch-Tadmor model under the hierarchical leadership assumption, we exhibit a case where the flocking phenomenon occurs regardless of the initial conditions and the communication function, in particular even if $\beta\geq1$.