Studying Swarm Behaviour Using Physical Methods

[bernhard.rothenstein]

please let me know if physical methods are used in order to study the behaviour of a swarm.
thanks

 

[Danger]

A swarm of what? For comets, the answer is 'yes'.
If you're referring to bugs, you should probably post this in the Biology section. I believe that swarming behaviour is species-dependent, and has nothing to do with physics in the way that we normally think of.

 

[siddharth]

For a flock of birds or a swarm of fish, I think Boids are used to simulate the behaviour, which follows a simple set of rules.

 

[neurocomp2003]

you could though...by integrating some fluid dynamics into the simulation of either fish or birds(boids&flocks). I believe a group at the University of toronto simulated fish though I'm not entirely sure if they used real water physics...the lead researcher went to silicon i believe.

 

[D H]

The newest National Geographic has an interesting lay article on swarm theory, available online (free!) at http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0707/feature5 . The article is math-free, of course.

 

[bernhard.rothenstein]

The newest National Geographic has an interesting lay article on swarm theory, available online (free!) at http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0707/feature5 . The article is math-free, of course.

Thanks for your help. My problem is if researchers have tried in the case of a swarm of birds to register the emitted sount and to relate it with the changes in the configuration?
regards