title: Optimal cooperative searching using purely repulsive interactions.
abstract: Foraging, either solitarily or collectively, is a necessary behavior for survival that is demonstrated by many organisms. Foraging can be collectively optimized by utilizing communication between the organisms. Examples of such communication range from high level strategic foraging by animal groups to rudimentary signaling among unicellular organisms. Here we systematically study the simplest form of communication via long range repulsive interactions between multiple diffusing Brownian searchers on a one-dimensional lattice. We show that the mean first passage time for any one of them to reach a fixed target depends non-monotonically on the range of the interaction and can be optimized for a repulsive range that is comparable to the average spacing between searchers. Our results suggest that even the most rudimentary form of collective searching does in fact lower the search time for the foragers suggesting robust mechanisms for search optimization in cellular communities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California Merced, United States.
authors.forename: Noriyuki P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Tani
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California Merced, United States.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blatt
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California Merced, United States. Electronic address: dquint@ucmerced.edu.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Quint
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California Merced, United States. Electronic address: agopinathan@ucmerced.edu.
authors.forename: Ajay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gopinathan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological
keywords: Collective behavior; Foraging