The collective motion of self-propelled particles affected by the spatial-dependent noise based on Vicsek rules

We study the collective motion of self-propelled particles affected by the spatial-dependent noise based on the Vicsek rules. In our model, we consider period boundary condition and only the particles inside a special region will be affected by noise. The consideration of the spatial-dependent noise is closer to reality because of the complexity of the environment. Interestingly, we find that the average deviation between the average motional direction of the system and the orientation of the noisy region is very close to zero when the amplitude of noise is large enough. Particular orientation of the noisy region makes the motional direction of the system parallel to the orientation of the noisy region. The adjustment of the motional direction of the system also depends on the shape, the proportion and the spatial distribution of the noisy region. Our findings may inspire the capture of the key features of collective motion underlying various phenomena. •Spatial-dependent noise is considered for studying the collective behavior of self-propelled particles.•When the amplitude of noise inside the noisy region is large enough, almost all the particles move parallel to the orientation of the noisy region.•The motional direction of the system tends to be parallel to the particular orientation of the noisy region.•The shape, proportion and spatial distribution of the noisy region also affect the collective motion of the system.