Collective motion with the self-propelled directional reversals effect

Abstract

Some organisms in nature, including myxococcus xanthus and locusts, exhibit random reversals of direction for the purpose of obtaining more nutrients or avoiding obstacles. In this study, we have constructed a Vicsek-like model and investigated collective motion with the self-propelled directional reversals effect by adjusting the strength of noise and the average number density. Our study results show that: (1) The self-propelled directional reversals effect generally reduces the directional consistency of collective motion. (2) In the weak noise region, the self-propelled directional reversals effect enhances the global order parameter of the group with topological interaction pattern. (3) Directional reversals with different correlation time do not alter the power-law relation between the order parameter and the density, but the presence of memory effect can lead to different sign of power exponent near certain density thresholds. (4) Machine learning analysis reveals the clusters phenomenon is associated with high local and low global order parameters in system. Overall, our study provides an insight to the collective motion with the directional reversals effect.