Looking for the right thing at the right place: Phase transition in an agent model with heterogeneous spatial resources: Research Articles

  • Authors:
  • Denis Boyer;Hernán Larralde

  • Affiliations:
  • Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 20-364, 01000 Mexico City, Mexico;Centro de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Av. Universidad s/n, Colonia Chamilpa, 62210 Cuernavaca Morelos, Mexico

  • Venue:
  • Complexity - Understanding Complex Systems: Part I
  • Year:
  • 2005

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Abstract

We introduce a simple model describing an agent traveling within a medium containing resources randomly distributed in space. The agent, initially located at some origin, performs a single step toward a target of his choice that minimizes an economy function. We use an economy function that depends on the weight of the target and its distance from the origin. The cost and length statistics of the displacements are analyzed. We find a critical point for a particular resource weight distribution, such that the average cost vanishes (or becomes very small in practice). This problem can describe an economical agent looking for a firm with the best price or largest product choice, a tourist in search of an interesting and nearby city to visit, or an animal foraging in a complex landscape. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 10: 52–55, 2005