Persistence of cooperation in diffusive public goods games
Journal article, 2019

Diffusive public goods (PG) games are difficult to analyze due to population assortment affecting growth rates of cooperators (producers) and free-riders. We study these growth rates using spectral decomposition of cellular densities and derive a finite cell-size correction of the growth rate advantage which exactly describes the dynamics of a randomly assorted population and approximates the dynamics under limited dispersal. The resulting effective benefit-to-cost ratio relates the physical parameters of PG dynamics to the persistence of cooperation, and our findings provide a powerful tool for the analysis of diffusive PG games, explaining commonly observed patterns of cooperation.

game theory

Author

Philip Gerlee

University of Gothenburg

Chalmers, Mathematical Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Statistics

Philipp M. Altrock

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute

Physical Review E

24700045 (ISSN) 24700053 (eISSN)

Vol. 99 6 062412

Subject Categories

Mathematics

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevE.99.062412

More information

Latest update

7/19/2023