AI Insight
Physicists have developed a new modeling approach to accurately simulate collective behavior systems like bird flocks and bacterial swarms that appear to violate Newton's third law of motion (action-reaction principle). The breakthrough involves incorporating specially designed "imaginary partners" into computational models, which accounts for the non-reciprocal interactions that occur in these biological systems. This method resolves a long-standing theoretical challenge in understanding how large groups of organisms coordinate movement without traditional force balance.
Why it matters
This advance enables more accurate predictions of collective behavior in biological systems, with potential applications in understanding disease spread through bacterial colonies, improving drone swarm coordination, and developing better models for crowd dynamics and traffic flow.
Physicists have solved a long-standing problem involving systems that appear to violate Newton’s third law, such as bird flocks and bacterial swarms. By adding carefully designed “imaginary partners” to their models, they can now simulate these complex systems with unprecedented accuracy.
Source: Scientists found a way to explain bird flocks that “defy” Newton’s third law