Citation

Silverberg JL, Bierbaum M, Sethna JP, Cohen I. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2013; 110(22): e228701.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, American Physical Society)

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.228701

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Human collective behavior can vary from calm to panicked depending on social context. Using videos publicly available online, we study the highly energized collective motion of attendees at heavy metal concerts. We find these extreme social gatherings generate similarly extreme behaviors: a disordered gaslike state called a mosh pit and an ordered vortexlike state called a circle pit. Both phenomena are reproduced in flocking simulations demonstrating that human collective behavior is consistent with the predictions of simplified models.

Language: en