Elasticity-based mechanism for the collective motion of self-propelled particles with springlike interactions: a model system for natural and artificial swarms.
We introduce an elasticity-based mechanism that drives active particles to self-organize by cascading self-propulsion energy towards lower-energy modes. We illustrate it on a simple model of self-propelled agents linked by linear springs that reach a collectively rotating or translating state without requiring aligning interactions. We develop an active elastic sheet theory, complementary to the prevailing active fluid theories, and find analytical stability conditions for the ordered state. Given its ubiquity, this mechanism could play a relevant role in various natural and artificial swarms.
Laboratory of Socioecology and Social Evolution, KU Leuven, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
Eliseo
E
Ferrante
University of Turkish Aeronautical Association, TR-06790 Ankara, Turkey.
Ali Emre
AE
Turgut
IRIDIA, Université Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium and Department of Computer Science, University of Paderborn, D-33102 Paderborn, Germany.
Marco
M
Dorigo
CHuepe Labs, 954 West 18th Place, Chicago, Illinois 60608, USA; Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, D-01187 Dresden, Germany; and Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
Cristián
C
Huepe
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003460:Crystallization; D004548:Elasticity; D008954:Models, Biological; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008962:Models, Theoretical