Recent work on human movement dynamics has been accepted for publication in Physical Review E (PRE), a reputable journal in the field of statistical physics. This research is the result of a significant collaboration between the Department of Physics and the Department of Psychology at the University of Miami, as well as external contributors.

Partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Institute of Education Sciences (IES), Marcus Autism Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Simons Foundation for Autism Research Initiative, the study focused on the movements of preschool children in classroom and playground settings, revealing previously unknown social phases in human movement.

Using ultra-wideband radio frequency identification (UWB-RFID) technology, two distinct phases were observed: a gas-like phase of free movement, and a liquid-vapor coexistence phase where small social groups form and disperse. This discovery provides valuable insights into human interactions in low-speed social environments, with potential applications in education, crowd management, and social physics.

This project was a significant joint effort between the Department of Physics and the Department of Psychology at the University of Miami, with contributions from both faculty (also members of IDSC) and students, as well as external collaborators. From the Department of Physics, Yi Zhang and Debasish Sarker, co-led the research under the guidance of advisor Prof. Chaoming Song, an expert in statistical physics and complex systems. On the Psychology side, Samantha Mitsven played a key role in data collection, with Prof. Daniel Messinger and Prof. Lynn Perry providing essential insights into human behavior dynamics and social interactions.

In addition to the efforts from the University of Miami, external collaborators also contributed to the interdisciplinary nature of the research. Prof. Michael Siller from the Department of Psychology at Emory University and Marcus Autism Center, and Dr. Udo Rudolph from the Department of Psychology at Chemnitz University of Technology, provided further expertise, enhancing the scope of the work.

TITLE:  Emergence of Social Phases in Human Movement | to be published by the American Physical Society (APS)  Physical Review E Journal covering statistical, nonlinear, biological, and soft matter physics. Authors: Yi Zhang, Debasish Sarker, Samantha Mitsven, Lynn Perry, Daniel Messinger, Udo Rudolph, Michael Siller, and Chaoming Song.
Accepted 16 August 2024.

ABSTRACT:  Recent empirical studies found different thermodynamic phases for collective motion in animals. However, such a thermodynamic description of human movement remains unclear. Existing studies of traffic and pedestrian flows have primarily focused on relatively high-speed mobility data, reveal- ing only a fluid-like phase. This focus is partly because the parameter space of low-speed movement, which is governed predominantly by pairwise social interaction, remains largely uncharted. Here, we used ultra-wideband radio frequency identification (UWB-RFID) technology to collect high- resolution spatiotemporal data on movements in four different classroom and playground settings. We observed two novel social phases in children’s movements: a gas-like phase of free movement and a liquid-vapor coexistence phase characterized by the formation of small social groups. We also developed a simple statistical physics model that can reproduce different empirically observed phases. The proposed UWB-RFID technology can also be used to study the dynamics of active matter systems, including animal behavior, coordinating robotic swarms, and monitoring human interactions within complex systems, potentially benefiting future research in social physics.

SIMPLEST SUMMARY: Observations of preschool children in classrooms and playgrounds have uncovered new social phases in human movement. Employing ultra-wideband radio frequency identification (UWB-RFID) technology allowed for the precise tracking of children’s movements, revealing a “gas-like” phase of free, independent movement and a “liquid-vapor coexistence” phase where small groups dynamically form and disperse. This discovery provides a fresh perspective on human interactions in low-speed social settings, offering insights that could enhance strategies in education and crowd management, and opens new research avenues in social physics and active matter systems.