Birds on a Wire

Abstract

We investigate the occupancy statistics of birds on a wire and on higher-dimensional substrates. In one dimension, birds land one by one on a wire and rest where they land. Whenever a newly arriving bird lands within a fixed distance of already resting birds, these resting birds immediately fly away. We determine the steady-state occupancy of the wire, the distribution of gaps between neighboring birds, and other basic statistical features of this process. We discuss conjectures for corresponding observables in higher dimensions.

4 pages, 3 figures in revtex4 format. Also includes a 5-page supplemental material section. V2: Now 18 pages in IOP format, including 2 appendices

References in corpus (2)

• Novel type of phase transition in a system of self-driven particles
• Interaction Ruling Animal Collective Behaviour Depends on Topological rather than Metric Distance: Evidence from a Field Study

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Dynamic Space Packing