A nonequilibrium statistical field theory of swarms and other spatially extended complex systems

Abstract

A class of models with applications to swarm behavior as well as many other types of spatially extended complex biological and physical systems is studied. Internal fluctuations can play an active role in the organization of the phase structure of such systems. Consequently, it is not possible to fully understand the behavior of these systems without explicitly incorporating the fluctuations. In particular, for the class of models studied here the effect of internal fluctuations due to finite size is a renormalized decrease in the temperature near the point of spontaneous symmetry breaking. We briefly outline how these models can be applied to the behavior of an ant swarm.