Dresden 2006 – scientific programme

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AKB: Biologische Physik

AKB 17: Population Dynamics

AKB 17.1: Talk

Wednesday, March 29, 2006, 14:30–14:45, ZEU 260

Swarm formation of anisotropic self-propelled particles — •Fernando Peruani^1,2, Markus Baer³, and Andreas Deutsch² — ¹Max-Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems — ²ZIH, Technische Universität Dresden — ³Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt

We study clustering (swarming) in biologically motivated systems of asymmetric self-propelled particles interacting through volume exclusion. Through simulations, we give numerical evidence of a transition to swarming. At the same time, we show that clustering effects can be captured by a mean field approach. We find that clustering is controlled by the particle aspect ratio κ and the packing fraction η. We report a transition from unimodal to bimodal cluster size distribution which is triggered by a critical κ_c. We show κ_c is a function of the packing fraction η. The applicability of these finding to bacterial swarming is also discussed.