Convergence Analysis of the Long-range Deffuant-Weisbuch Dynamics

In this paper we study the convergence behavior of the long-range Multi-choice Deffuant-Weisbuch (LMDW) model. Since the opinions may not separated in the LMDW opinion dynamics, we study a new concept, called merging time. Then we provide one expected upper bound of merging time for the LMDW model. Finally, we show the difference between the merging time and convergence time of the LMDW model.