title: Dissipative self-organized branching in a dynamic population.
abstract: We study a locally nonconservative self-organized branching process (SOBP) in an open system of excitable agents exhibiting spontaneous excitation and deexcitation. The SOBP achieves criticality even in the absence of energy conservation as the population relaxes to a stable state with no overexcited agent. Criticality is widely thought to happen only in a locally conservative SOBP. Our model explains the observed characteristic size in the size distribution of tuna fish schools and the neuronal avalanches in cortical networks.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines.
authors.forename: Dranreb Earl
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Juanico
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Monterola
authors.forename: Caesar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saloma