Local vs. Long-Range Infection in Unidimensional Epidemics

Abstract

Read online

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.

Keywords

• contact process
• Lévy-flights
• absorbing state
• non-equilibrium phase transitions
• critical phenomena