Collective motion as a form of collective behavior is a fascinating phenomenon spanning many length and time scales. Crucial for understanding the benefits of collective behavior is understanding the mechanism of information propagation in the collective. In this talk, I explore two largely unexplored areas: collective information processing in heterogeneous environments and the spreading of information during the initiation of motion. Our findings reveal that a limited attention capacity, which significantly reduces connectivity among individuals, is highly beneficial for global coordination. However, collectives outperform isolated individuals in responding to the environment only at sufficiently high attention capacities. Additionally, in the context of initiation of collective motion, we reveal that coupling the internal state and self-propulsion of particles in a non-critical 2-state system results in an effective 3-state system, which displays scale-invariant activity avalanches, illustrating a deep connection with critical phenomena. These insights advance our understanding of collective behavior in both natural and artificial systems.
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https://www.skyroom.online/ch/schoolofnanoscience/weeklyseminars