Partial state stability and stabilization of Boolean control networks

Abstract

The paper deals with problems on the stability and stabilization of Boolean networks with respect to a given part of variables characterizing the Boolean network. Using the semi-tensor product of matrices and the matrix expression of logic, the dynamics of a Boolean (control) network can be converted to discrete time linear (bilinear) dynamics called the algebraic form of the Boolean (control) network. The two main results are as follows: (i) From the algebraic form of a Boolean (control) network, two partial stability definitions are introduced. One is partial stability with respect to another variable set, and the other is partial stability with respect to arbitrary initial states. (ii) Based on the algebraic form, necessary and sufficient conditions for the stability of global partial states with respect to the variable set and arbitrary initial states are obtained. Examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of our results.