Scaling of the propagation of epidemics in a system of mobile agents

TL;DR

This paper investigates how epidemics spread in a dynamic system of mobile agents using molecular dynamics, analyzing the effects of density, temperature, and infection duration on epidemic thresholds.

Contribution

It introduces a time-evolving network model for epidemic spreading among mobile agents, extending previous complex network studies to dynamic physical systems.

Findings

Epidemic thresholds depend on agent density and temperature.

Spreading transitions are influenced by infection time distributions.

The model reveals critical points for epidemic outbreaks in mobile systems.

Abstract

For a two-dimensional system of agents modeled by molecular dynamics, we simulate epidemics spreading, which was recently studied on complex networks. Our resulting network model is time-evolving. We study the transitions to spreading as function of density, temperature and infection time. In addition, we analyze the epidemic threshold associated to a power-law distribution of infection times.