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Updated: Apr 17, 2026

Studying the Neural Basis of Adaptive Locomotor Behavior in Insects
Published on: April 13, 2011
Absence of jamming in ant trails: feedback control of self-propulsion and noise
Debasish Chaudhuri1, Apoorva Nagar2
1Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Yeddumailaram 502205, Telengana, India.
Abstract:
We present a model of ant traffic considering individual ants as self-propelled particles undergoing single-file motion on a one-dimensional trail. Recent experiments on unidirectional ant traffic in well-formed natural trails showed that the collective velocity of ants remains approximately unchanged, leading to the absence of jamming even at very high densities [John et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 108001 (2009)]. Assuming a feedback control mechanism of self-propulsion force generated by each ant using information about the distance from the ant in front, our model captures all the main features observed in the experiment. The distance headway distribution shows a maximum corresponding to separations within clusters. The position of this maximum remains independent of average number density. We find a non-equilibrium first-order transition, with the formation of an infinite cluster at a threshold density where all the ants in the system suddenly become part of a single cluster.
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