Complexity and Fly Swarms

A system is considered complex if it is composed of individual parts that abide by a set of simple rules while the system, as a whole, exhibits more elaborate, unexpected properties. The motivation for studying complexity stems from the fact that it is a feature of many different systems. We are particularly interested in fly swarms and the possible complex properties that swarms exhibit, arising from individual fly interactions. To better understand the nature of complexity exhibited by fly swarms, a simple stochastic fly swarm model was created to investigate the relationship between the average radius of the swarm and the number of individuals within it, as experimental data shows a power-law scaling of the number of flies to the average radius. In addition, the model will be used to explore the difference between swarming and non-swarming behavior.