We study whether leadership can arise in collectives of agents that follow identical interaction rules but differ slightly in perceptual or kinematic traits. Using a continuous-time flocking model with controlled micro-heterogeneity, we measure directional influence through a lagged-correlation network metric. Fully homogeneous groups show uniformly low influence, whereas even a small elite subset produces stronger leaders. Moderate heterogeneity amplifies leadership, while excessive heterogeneity reduces it. These results show that minimal parametric differences alone can generate emergent leaders in decentralized swarms.

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When Small Differences Matter: How Small Differences Create Leaders in Flocking Swarms

  • Yara Khaluf

摘要

We study whether leadership can arise in collectives of agents that follow identical interaction rules but differ slightly in perceptual or kinematic traits. Using a continuous-time flocking model with controlled micro-heterogeneity, we measure directional influence through a lagged-correlation network metric. Fully homogeneous groups show uniformly low influence, whereas even a small elite subset produces stronger leaders. Moderate heterogeneity amplifies leadership, while excessive heterogeneity reduces it. These results show that minimal parametric differences alone can generate emergent leaders in decentralized swarms.