My research covers political competition, complex systems, and biophysical modeling. A complete publication profile is available on Google Scholar.
M. Hoferer and H. Gersbach, “The attractor model of political competition and the resilience of democracy,” Int. J. Mod. Phys. C 38, 2750012 (2027).DOICode
Abstract
This paper models political competition when voter preferences evolve through communication and candidate influence. Despite this endogeneity, candidates still converge on the median voter's initial position, while narrower influence ranges produce more favorable shifts in voter preferences.
M. Hoferer, “Essays on Opinion Formation in Politics,” Doctoral thesis, ETH Zurich (2022).DOI
Abstract
This thesis studies opinion formation through campaign targeting, candidate influence, and political discussion. It quantifies when targeting technologies create electoral advantages, develops an attractor model that preserves the median-policy result, and compares sentiment patterns in partisan Reddit discussions with survey-based findings on affective polarization.
M. Hoferer, L. Böttcher, H. J. Herrmann, and H. Gersbach, “The impact of technologies in political campaigns,” Physica A 538, 122795 (2020).DOIarXiv
Abstract
This paper represents persuadable voters as a network and examines how campaign activists use targeting technology to focus their efforts. The model quantifies vote-share gains and savings in budget and personnel, identifies a minimum precision threshold, and shows that a targeting advantage is consistent with the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
M. Hoferer, S. Bonfanti, A. Taloni, C. A. M. La Porta, and S. Zapperi, “Protein driven lipid domain nucleation in biological membranes,” Phys. Rev. E 100, 042410 (2019).DOIarXivCode
Abstract
Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics and Ising-model simulations, this paper shows that a transmembrane protein can nucleate a lipid domain in an otherwise mixed membrane. The resulting domain also reduces protein mobility, supporting a role for membrane proteins in lipid-raft formation and stability.