Swarming dynamics of a model for biological groups in two dimensions

Abstract

We investigate a class of continuum models for the motion of a two-dimensional biological group under the influence of nonlocal social interactions. The dynamics may be uniquely decomposed into incompressible motion and potential motion. When the motion is purely incompressible, the model possesses solutions which have constant population density and sharp boundaries for all time. Numerical simulations of these "swarm patches'' reveal rotating mill-like swarms with circular cores and spiral arms. The sign of the social interaction term determines the direction of the rotation, and the interaction length scale affects the degree of spiral formation. When the motion is purely potential, the social interaction term has the meaning of repulsion or attraction depending on its sign. For the repulsive case, the population spreads and the density profile is smoothed. With increasing interaction length scale, the motion becomes more convective and experiences slower diffusive smoothing. For the attractive case, the population self-organizes into regions of high and low density. The characteristic length scale of the density pattern is predicted and confirmed by numerical simulations.