Nonequilibrium dynamics of the Ising model on heterogeneous networks with an arbitrary distribution of threshold noise

Abstract: The Ising model on networks plays a fundamental role as a testing ground for understanding cooperative phenomena in complex systems. Here we solve the synchronous dynamics of the Ising model on random graphs with an arbitrary degree distribution in the high-connectivity limit. Depending on the distribution of the threshold noise that governs the microscopic dynamics, the model evolves to nonequilibrium stationary states. We obtain an exact dynamical equation for the distribution of local magnetizations, from which we find the critical line that separates the paramagnetic from the ferromagnetic phase. For random graphs with a negative binomial degree distribution, we demonstrate that the stationary critical behavior as well as the long-time critical dynamics of the first two moments of the local magnetizations depend on the distribution of the threshold noise. In particular, for an algebraic threshold noise, these critical properties are determined by the power-law tails of the distribution of thresholds. We further show that the relaxation time of the average magnetization inside each phase exhibits the standard mean-field critical scaling. The values of all critical exponents considered here are independent of the variance of the negative binomial degree distribution. Our work highlights the importance of certain details of the microscopic dynamics for the critical behavior of nonequilibrium spin systems.