From flocking to jamming in collective cell dynamics: a Vicsek-like model including contact forces
Abstract
The goal of the present work is to propose an agent-based model that originally combines classical Vicsek-like polarity alignments and contact forces, as implemented in the framework developed by Maury and Venel in [Maury, Venel, 2011]. The description additionally incorporates velocity feedback on polarity and soft attraction-repulsion interactions. After carefully studying the well posedness of the model, we introduce a suitable discretization and perform an extensive range of numerical experiments to assess the impact of different modeling ingredients. The dynamical system is capable of recovering the order-disorder phase transition of the flock, as well as the jamming effect in high density regimes. As such, the developed framework can be seen as a promising theoretical tool that could contribute to improving the understanding of complex collective cell dynamics and emerging tissue flows.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2512.15305,
title = {From flocking to jamming in collective cell dynamics: a Vicsek-like model including contact forces},
author = {Laurent Navoret and Roxana Sublet and Marcela Szopos},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.15305},
year = {2026}
}