Abstract

Lane formation is a well-documented example of spontaneous organisation occurring in pedestrian and colloidal counterflows. A typical experimental or simulation set-up comprises two groups moving in opposite directions who, as a result of collisions or collision avoidance manoeuvres, achieve segregation into lanes parallel to the direction of motion. Despite substantial effort over many years, the physical origins of lane nucleation are still not fully understood. In my talk I will discuss new theoretical results, which give insight into the physical origin of lane nucleation and make predictions about the rate at which the lanes emerge from a homogeneous crowd.