Collective behavior based on agent-environment interactions
Abstract
We present a model of active particles interacting through a dynamic, heterogeneous environment, leading to emergent collective behaviors without direct agent-to-agent communication. Expanding the resource-dependent framework introduced in Briozzo et al., 2025, arXiv:2512.08762, agents perform a persistent random walk combined with chemotaxis, directing toward nutrient-rich patches, whose resources are generated by logistic regrowth. We identify distinct phases of collective organization, ranging from disordered gas-like states to polar traveling waves and nematic independent clusters, depending on the interplay between chemotactic sensitivity and angular noise. The system exhibits spontaneous symmetry breaking and density waves driven purely by the coupling between population dynamics (birth-death processes) and environmental feedback. Our results bridge active matter physics and movement ecology, demonstrating that complex spatiotemporal patterns can arise without direct interaction between agents, but solely from the maximization of resource intake in a reactive environment.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2601.10046,
title = {Collective behavior based on agent-environment interactions},
author = {Gaston Briozzo and Gustavo J. Sibona and Fernando Peruani},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.10046},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
One of the authors found errors in the equations in the section on `PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS (PDE)'. Due to a miscommunication, this was not discovered until after publication. The author requests that the paper be withdrawn, as he considers it unfit for publication