Local vs. Long-Range Infection in Unidimensional Epidemics

• Main Authors: Priscila R. Silveira, Marcelo M. de Oliveira, Sidiney G. Alves
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-03-01
• Series: Frontiers in Physics
• Subjects: contact process; Lévy-flights; absorbing state; non-equilibrium phase transitions; critical phenomena
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphy.2019.00017/full

We study the effects of local and distance interactions in the unidimensional contact process (CP). In the model, each site of a lattice is occupied by an individual, which can be healthy or infected. As in the standard CP, each infected individual spreads the disease to one of its first-neighbors with rate λ, and with unitary rate, it becomes healthy. However, in our model, an infected individual can transmit the disease to an individual at a distance ℓ apart. This step mimics a vector-mediated transmission. We observe the host-host interactions do not alter the critical exponents significantly in comparison to a process with only Lévy-type interactions. Our results confirm, numerically, early field-theoretic predictions.