Abstract
The nature of the phase transition in a system of self-propelling particles has been extensively studied during the past few decades. A theoretical model was proposed by [T. Vicsek et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 1226 (1995)] with a simple rule for updating the direction of motion of each particle. Based on the model of Vicsek et al., in this paper, we consider a group of animals as particles moving freely in a two-dimensional space. Due to the fact that the viewable area of animals depends on the species, we consider the motion of each individual within an angle is called the angle of view) of a circle centered at its position of radius . We obtained a phase diagram in the space with being the critical noise. We show that the phase transition exists only in the case of a wide view's angle . The flocking of animals is a universal behavior of the species of prey but not the one of the predator. Our simulation results are in good agreement with experimental observation [C. Beccoa et al., Physica A 367, 487 (2006)].
- Received 28 May 2014
- Revised 7 August 2015
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.92.032716
©2015 American Physical Society