These vortices resemble circle pits, in which people move quickly in one direction around a circle. When flocking (orientating with the group) was more prominent than collisions and noise, the crowd separated into a vortex instead of a mosh pit. ![]() The key discovery was that “both noise and collisions tend to randomize motion, whereas flocking tends to homogenize motion.” Over enough time, mosh pits act like gases in equilibrium, where particles move randomly and collide, despite being composed of self-propelled people. The difference in speeds of the two types seemed to cause this development.Īfter a series of more simulations with varying parameters, a gas-like region appeared, mirroring observations from concert footage. The researchers ran a simulation with uniformly mixed active and passive MASHers and found that the active MASHers congregated and became enclosed in a circle of passive MASHers - the setup of a mosh pit. Active MASHers are self-propelled and subject to random fluctuations and flocking, meaning that individuals move and orient themselves with the group. The particles were divided into active and passive MASHers that represent different types of metal concert attendees. Over enough time, mosh pits act like gases in equilibrium, where particles move randomly and collide, despite being composed of self-propelled people. However, because concert attendees are self-propelled, the group used a model similar to the Vicsek model to simulate each human mosher as a “simple soft-bodied particle a mobile active simulated humanoid, or MASHer.” The Cornell physicists were intrigued because while other collective human motion, such as pedestrian traffic, displays more complex behavior, mosh pits appear to fit well to the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, which describes the speeds of ideal gas molecules in equilibrium. In mosh pits, people bump into each other randomly, much like particles in a gas. The Vicsek model is widely used to describe the movement of these active agents and is famous for its simplicity and applicability to many phenomena. In many biological cases, the individuals are self-propelled, meaning they use energy and give rise to a system out of thermodynamic equilibrium. Researchers have studied the collective motion of objects ranging from animals to bacteria to molecules and have developed mathematical models to simulate their interactions. Silverberg published an analysis of these extreme social interactions titled “Collective Motion of Humans in Mosh and Circle Pits at Heavy Metal Concerts.” In 2013, physicists at Cornell University led by Jesse L. Bands often encourage mosh pits, crowd surfing, and “walls of death,” creating a chaotic yet controlled environment that has sparked scientists’ interest. Metal concert attendees are familiar with deafening music, bright lights, Lovecraftian graphics, and, of course, rowdy crowds. ![]() This article was originally published as part of Issue 38: People.
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