The Phase-Ordering Kinetics of Cemetery Organization in Ants

The clustering of dead bodies by ants is simulated, using a cellular automaton model, the rules of which are carefully derived from experiments. Starting from a random spatial distribution of corpses, a cemetery organizes itself into clusters of corpses. The dynamics of clustering can be compared to the phase-ordering kinetics of a bidimensional idealized magnetic system with scalar conserved order parameter. In particular, scaling relations are found for the structure factor and the dynamics of cluster growth, which can be compared with those predicted by the theory of phase ordering kinetics. Observed exponents are consistent with those expected in early-stage phase ordering kinetics.