Abstract
Intermittent search processes switch between local Brownian search events and ballistic relocation phases. We demonstrate analytically and numerically in one dimension that when relocation times are Lévy distributed, resulting in a Lévy walk dynamics, the search process significantly outperforms the previously investigated case of exponentially distributed relocation times: The resulting Lévy walks reduce oversampling and thus further optimize the intermittent search strategy in the critical situation of rare targets. We also show that a searching agent that uses the Lévy strategy is much less sensitive to the target density, which would require considerably less adaptation by the searcher.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 11055-11059 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 105 |
Issue number | 32 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 12 Aug 2008 |
Keywords
- Lévy walk
- Movement ecology
- Optimization
- Random processes