Pattern Formation in a Spatial Public Goods Dilemma due to Diffusive or Directed Motion
Yuxuan Zhao, Kaisheng Zhu, Yefei Zhang, Daniel B Cooney · 2026
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Description
Yuxuan Zhao and co-authors model how patterns form when cooperators and free-riders share a space and a common good, in a 2026 paper. Providing public goods costs the giver, while all share the gain, which tempts some to ride free. Space changes the game: goods spread, and people can move toward richer spots. The team built a set of equations that tracks both the people and the good across a landscape.
Their analysis shows two routes to pattern. Fast spread by free-riders can break a smooth mix into patches. Strong drift of cooperators toward rich spots can do the same by another route. Simulations fill out the picture for a wide range of settings. Spread-driven patches tended to raise cooperation and goods across the whole space. Drift by cooperators toward goods tended to lower both, a contrast the authors stress for real crowd problems.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Yuxuan Zhao, Kaisheng Zhu, Yefei Zhang, Daniel B Cooney |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 147 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |