TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2022//
TI  - Spontaneous emergence of counterclockwise vortex motion in assemblies of pedestrians roaming within an enclosure
JO  - Scientific reports
A1  - Echeverría-Huarte, Iñaki
A1  - Nicolas, Alexandre
A1  - Hidalgo, Raúl Cruz
A1  - Garcimartín, Angel
A1  - Zuriguel, Iker
SP  - e2647
EP  - e2647
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
N2  - The emergence of coherent vortices has been observed in a wide variety of many-body systems such as animal flocks, bacteria, colloids, vibrated granular materials or human crowds. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that pedestrians roaming within an enclosure also form vortex-like patterns which, intriguingly, only rotate counterclockwise. By implementing simple numerical simulations, we evidence that the development of swirls in many-particle systems can be described as a phase transition in which both the density of agents and their dissipative interactions with the boundaries play a determinant role. Also, for the specific case of pedestrians, we show that the preference of right-handed people (the majority in our experiments) to turn leftwards when facing a wall is the symmetry breaking mechanism needed to trigger the global counterclockwise rotation observed.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2045-2322
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06493-0
ID  - ref1
ER  -