Physics Colloquium
Friday, November 17th, 2003 4 P.M.
E300 Math/Science Center
Dr. Illes Farkas
Biological Physics Research Group
of the Hungarian Academy of
Science and
Department of Biological Physics,
Eötvös University
Pedestrian escape panic and the mexican wave: two examples for
collective human motion
Despite of their complicated structure, in many situations humans
can be
described as units obeying a handful of simple rules of motion.
One of the most disastrous forms of collective human behaviour
is the
kind of crowd stampede induced by panic, often leading to fatalities
as
people are crushed or trampled. A model of pedestrian behavior
will be
presented, and the mechanisms of (and preconditions for) panic
and jamming
in crowds will be analyzed. We will see practical ways to prevent
dangerous crowd pressures and also an optimal strategy for escape
from a
smoke-filled room involving a mixture of individualistic and collective
'herding' behavior.
The second part of the talk will show the applicability of a well-known
family of models with slight modifications to the coherent motion
of spectators in a stadium.
Refreshments 3:30 P.M. Room E200 Math/Science Center
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