Abstract

A mathematical theory on flocking serves the foundation for several ubiquitous multi-agent phenomena in biology, ecology, sensor networks, and economics, as well as social behavior like language emergence and evolution. Directly inspired by the recent fundamental works of Cucker and Smale on the construction and analysis of a generic flocking model, the emergent behavior of Cucker–Smale flocking under hierarchical leadership was studied. The rates of convergence towards asymptotically coherent group patterns in different scenarios are established. The consistent convergence towards coherent patterns may well reveal the advantages and necessities of having leaders and leadership in a complex (biological, technological, economic, or social) system with sufficient intelligence.