Hierarchical Organization of Communicating Active Swarms

Explore the fascinating world of active matter and self-organizing swarms in this comprehensive lecture. Delve into the study of self-propelled particles and their ability to form large-scale coherent structures. Discover how communication and information processing enhance the evolutionary competitiveness of living organisms, and learn about the potential applications of these principles in synthetic active matter systems like microrobots. Examine the Vicsek model and its extension to include signaling fields, revealing how chemical communication and decision-making at the individual agent level can lead to multi-scale organization. Investigate the self-organization of coupled self-propelled nonlinear oscillators emitting acoustic waves, and uncover the emergence of localized droplets and collectively propagating snake- and larvae-like solutions. Gain insights into collective navigation in heterogeneous environments and threat detection capabilities of these structures. Understand the implications of these findings for the development of advanced micro robotic swarms capable of processing information and making decisions, paving the way for new functionalities in synthetic non-equilibrium systems.