Criticality and the onset of ordering in the standard Vicsek model

• Autores: Baglietto, Gabriel; Albano, Ezequiel Vicente; Candia, Julián Marcelo
• Año de publicación: 2012
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: Física; Animal collective behaviour; Large-scale cooperative phenomena; Standard Vicsek model
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de La Plata

Experimental observations of animal collective behaviour have shown stunning evidence for the emergence of large-scale cooperative phenomena resembling phase transitions in physical systems. Indeed, quantitative studies have found scale-free correlations and critical behaviour consistent with the occurrence of continuous, second-order phase transitions. The standard Vicsek model (SVM), a minimal model of self-propelled particles in which their tendency to align with each other competes with perturbations controlled by a noise term, appears to capture the essential ingredients of critical flocking phenomena. In this paper, we review recent finite-size scaling and dynamical studies of the SVM, which present a full characterization of the continuous phase transition through dynamical and critical exponents. We also present a complex network analysis of SVM flocks and discuss the onset of ordering in connection with XY-like spin models.
Instituto de Física de Líquidos y Sistemas Biológicos
Facultad de Ingeniería