Vicsek model

The Vicsek model is a mathematical model used to describe active matter. One motivation of the study of active matter by physicists is the rich phenomenology associated to this field. Collective motion and swarming are among the most studied phenomena. Within the huge number of models that have been developed to catch such behavior from a microscopic description, the most famous is the model introduced by Tamás Vicsek et al. in 1995.[1]

Physicists have a great interest in this model as it is minimal and describes a kind of universality. It consists in point-like self-propelled particles that evolve at constant speed and align their velocity with their neighbours' one in presence of noise. Such a model shows collective motion at high density of particles or low noise on the alignment.

  1. ^ Vicsek, Tamás; Czirók, András; Ben-Jacob, Eshel; Cohen, Inon; Shochet, Ofer (1995-08-07). "Novel Type of Phase Transition in a System of Self-Driven Particles". Physical Review Letters. 75 (6): 1226–1229. arXiv:cond-mat/0611743. Bibcode:1995PhRvL..75.1226V. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.1226. PMID 10060237. S2CID 15918052.