The collective motion of self-propelled particles affected by the spatial-dependent noise

TL;DR

This paper investigates how spatial-dependent noise influences the collective motion of self-propelled particles, revealing an optimal noise level and the impact of noisy region orientation, shape, and distribution on system behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a model incorporating spatial-dependent noise into Vicsek rules, highlighting how environmental complexity affects collective motion.

Findings

Existence of an optimal noise amplitude for direction control

Noisy region orientation influences system alignment

Shape and distribution of noisy regions affect collective behavior

Abstract

We study the collective motion of self-propelled particles affected by the spatial-dependent noise based on the Vicsek rules. Only the particles inside the special region will affected by noise. The consideration of the spatial-dependent noise is closer to reality because of the complexity of the environment. Interestingly, we find that there exists an optimal amplitude of noise to adjust the average motional direction of the system. Particular orientation of the noisy region makes the motional direction of the system parallel to the orientation of the noisy region. The adjustment of the motional direction of the system also depends on the shape, the proportion and the spatial distribution of the noisy region. Our findings may inspire the capture of the key features of collective motion underlying various phenomena.