The course will cover some mathematical models currently used in the analysis of collective phenomena, such as vehicular and pedestrian traffic, flocking phenomena. Emphasis will be given to the mathematical treatment of specific problems coming from real world applications.
Macroscopic traffic models: LWR model, fundamental diagrams. The Riemann problem. Point-type constraints (the "Toll gate" problem). Second order models for traffic flow: Aw-Rascle model, shocks description, instabilities near vacuum. Basics on the theory of systems of conservation laws. Junction of roads, networks. Distribution rules along the roads, optimization of the flux. Solution to the Riemann problem at a junction. Pedestrian flow: normal and panic situation. Macroscopic models, conservation of "mass", eikonal equation. The Hughes model for pedestrian flow; in one space dimension: curve of turning points, Rankine-Hugoniot conditions. Macroscopic models for pedestrian flow that include: knowledge of a preferred path, discomfort from walking along walls, tendency of avoiding high densities of pedestrian in a neighborhood (nonlocal term of convolution type), angle of vision, obstacle in the domain. Introduction to the theory of flocking. Cucker-Smale model for flocking, conservation of moment and decay of the kinetic energy. Asymptotic flocking. Singular communication rate. The kinetic limit. Introduction to synchronization: Kuramoto model, basic properties.