Heterogeneous out-of-equilibrium nonlinear q-voter model with zealotry

We study the dynamics of the out-of-equilibrium nonlinear q-voter model with two types of susceptible voters and zealots, introduced in [EPL 113, 48001 (2016)]. In this model, each individual supports one of two parties and is either a susceptible voter of type q1 or q2, or is an inflexible zealot. At each time step, a qi-susceptible voter (i = 1, 2) consults a group of qi neighbors and adopts their opinion if all group members agree, while zealots are inflexible and never change their opinion. This model violates detailed balance whenever q1 6= q2 and is characterized by two distinct regimes of low and high density of zealotry. Here, by combining analytical and numerical methods, we investigate the non-equilibrium stationary state of the system in terms of its probability distribution, non-vanishing currents and unequal-time two-point correlation functions. We also study the switching times properties of the model by exploiting an approximate mapping onto the model of [Phys. Rev. E 92, 012803 (2015)] that satisfies the detailed balance, and we outline some properties of the model near criticality.