Quantitative Analysis of Physical and Statistical Properties of Flocks.

Abstract: Flocking behavior is a common phenomenon in nature in the form of, for instance, flocks of birds or schools of fish. Making the assumption that the members of a flock can be considered a system of interacting particles it is possible to use methods from statistical physics to quantitatively analyze flocks and their properties. This way, a flock can exist in various thermodynamic phases and exhibit phase transitions depending on changes within the flock. In this report the flock analysis is performed with the help of a model originally created by Vicsek et al. The model is governed by certain parameters controlling the interaction between individual flock members. From the results it is possible to see that even small deviations in these parameter values can lead to great phase alterations as well as phase transitions, which strengthens to the assumption that a flock can be considered a system of particles.