Flocks, herds, and schools: A quantitative theory of flocking

TL;DR

This paper develops a quantitative continuum theory of flocking, predicting an ordered phase with coherent motion, spontaneous symmetry breaking, and unique fluctuation behaviors, especially in two dimensions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel continuum model for flocking that predicts long-range order and fluctuation effects, differing from equilibrium systems, especially in low dimensions.

Findings

Flocks exhibit long-range order in two dimensions.

Goldstone modes cause giant density fluctuations.

Nonlinear effects alter behavior below four dimensions.

Abstract

We present a quantitative continuum theory of ``flocking'': the collective coherent motion of large numbers of self-propelled organisms. Our model predicts the existence of an ``ordered phase'' of flocks, in which all members of the flock move together with the same mean velocity. This coherent motion of the flock is an example of spontaneously broken symmetry. The ``Goldstone modes'' associated with this ``spontaneously broken rotational symmetry'' are fluctuations in the direction of motion of a large part of the flock away from the mean direction. These ``Goldstone modes'' mix with modes associated with conservation of bird number to produce propagating sound modes. These sound modes lead to enormous fluctuations of the density of the flock. Our model is similar in many ways to the Navier-Stokes equations for a simple compressible fluid; in other ways, it resembles a relaxational time dependent Ginsburg-Landau theory for an $n = d$ component isotropic ferromagnet. In spatial dimensions $d > 4$, the long distance behavior is correctly described by a linearized theory. For $d < 4$, non-linear fluctuation effects radically alter the long distance behavior, making it different from that of any known equilibrium model. In particular, we find that in $d = 2$, where we can calculate the scaling exponents \underline{exactly}, flocks exhibit a true, long-range ordered, spontaneously broken symmetry state, in contrast to equilibrium systems, which cannot spontaneously break a continuous symmetry in $d = 2$ (the ``Mermin-Wagner'' theorem). We make detailed predictions for various correlation functions that could be measured either in simulations, or by quantitative imaging of real flocks.