Cascade of Complexity in Evolving Predator-Prey Dynamics

Abstract

We simulate an individual-based model that represents both the phenotype and genome of digital organisms with predator-prey interactions. We show how open-ended growth of complexity arises from the invariance of genetic evolution operators with respect to changes in the complexity, and that the dynamics which emerges is controlled by a non-equilibrium critical point. The mechanism is analogous to the development of the cascade in fluid turbulence.

5 pages, 3 figures; added comments on system size scaling and turbulence analogy, added error estimates of data collapse parameters. Slightly enhanced from the version which will appear in PRL