Braess's paradox in tandem-running ants: When shortest path is not the quickest
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arXiv
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2026
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| Acceso en línea: | |
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| _version_ | 1866912992058146816 |
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| author | Bairagya, Joy Das Chakraborti, Udipta Annagiri, Sumana Chakraborty, Sagar |
| author_facet | Bairagya, Joy Das Chakraborti, Udipta Annagiri, Sumana Chakraborty, Sagar |
| contents | Braess's paradox -- where adding network capacity increases travel time -- is typically attributed to selfish agents. Although eusocial colonies maximize collective fitness, we find experimentally that \emph{Diacamma indicum} ants exhibit this paradox: Leaders favour the shortest path even when it slows the colony. We present a quantitative model of the exploration-exploitation trade-off, demonstrating that evolutionary forces selecting for shortest-path identification can force suboptimal global states. This proves the paradox can emerge in highly cooperative systems without individual selfishness. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_26226 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Braess's paradox in tandem-running ants: When shortest path is not the quickest Bairagya, Joy Das Chakraborti, Udipta Annagiri, Sumana Chakraborty, Sagar Biological Physics Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems Populations and Evolution Braess's paradox -- where adding network capacity increases travel time -- is typically attributed to selfish agents. Although eusocial colonies maximize collective fitness, we find experimentally that \emph{Diacamma indicum} ants exhibit this paradox: Leaders favour the shortest path even when it slows the colony. We present a quantitative model of the exploration-exploitation trade-off, demonstrating that evolutionary forces selecting for shortest-path identification can force suboptimal global states. This proves the paradox can emerge in highly cooperative systems without individual selfishness. |
| title | Braess's paradox in tandem-running ants: When shortest path is not the quickest |
| topic | Biological Physics Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems Populations and Evolution |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26226 |