Influence of sensorial delay on clustering and swarming

We show that sensorial delay alters the collective motion of self-propelling agents with aligning interactions: In a two-dimensional Vicsek model, short delays enhance the emergence of clusters and swarms, while long or negative delays prevent their formation. In order to quantify this phenomenon, w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review. E Vol. 100; no. 1-1; p. 012607
Main Authors Piwowarczyk, Rafal, Selin, Martin, Ihle, Thomas, Volpe, Giovanni
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.07.2019
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Summary:We show that sensorial delay alters the collective motion of self-propelling agents with aligning interactions: In a two-dimensional Vicsek model, short delays enhance the emergence of clusters and swarms, while long or negative delays prevent their formation. In order to quantify this phenomenon, we introduce a global clustering parameter based on the Voronoi tessellation, which permits us to efficiently measure the formation of clusters. Thanks to its simplicity, sensorial delay might already play a role in the organization of living organisms and can provide a powerful tool to engineer and dynamically tune the behavior of large ensembles of autonomous robots.
ISSN:2470-0053
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevE.100.012607