Kavli Affiliate: Ariel Amir
| First 5 Authors: Tabea Heckenthaler, Tobias Holder, Ariel Amir, Ofer Feinerman, Ehud Fonio
| Summary:
Some ant species are known as efficient transporters that can cooperatively
carry food items which would be too large for a single ant. Previous studies of
cooperative transport focused on the role of individual ants and their
behavioral rules that allow for efficient coordination. However, the resulting
detailed microscopic description requires a numerical treatment in order to
extract macroscopic features of the object’s trajectory. Here, we instead treat
the carried object as a single active swimmer whose movement is characterized
by two variables: velocity amplitude and direction. We experimentally observe
Paratrechina longicornis ants cooperatively transporting loads of varying
sizes. By analyzing the statistical features of the load’s movement, we show
how the salient properties of the cooperative transport are encoded in its
deterministic and random accelerations. We find that while the autocorrelation
time of the velocity direction increases with group size, the autocorrelation
time of the speed has a maximum at an intermediate group size, corresponding to
the critical slow down close to the previously identified phase transition. Our
statistical model for cooperative ant transport demonstrates that an active
swimmer model can be employed to describe a system of interacting individuals.
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