Statistical physics of the Schelling model of segregation
arXiv:0707.1681 · doi:10.1088/1742-5468/2008/07/L07002
Abstract
We investigate the static and dynamic properties of a celebrated model of social segregation, providing a complete explanation of the mechanisms leading to segregation both in one- and two-dimensional systems. Standard statistical physics methods shed light on the rich phenomenology of this simple model, exhibiting static phase transitions typical of kinetic constrained models, nontrivial coarsening like in driven-particle systems and percolation-related phenomena.
4 pages, 3 figures