Convergence to consensus of the general finite-dimensional Cucker-Smale model with time-varying delays (Q1737933)

The authors study the general finite-dimensional Cucker-Smale system with time-varying delays \begin{align*} \dot{x}_i(t)&=v_i(t),\\ \dot{v}_i(t)&=\frac{\lambda}{N}\sum_{j=1,j\ne i}^N\psi_{ij}(t-\tau_{ij}(t))(v_j(t-\tau_{ij}(t))-v_i(t)),\tag{1} \ \ i=1,\dots,N, \end{align*} where \((x_i(t),v_i(t))\in \mathbb{R}^{2d}\) are the phase-space coordinates of the \(i\)-th agent; \(N\) is the number of agents; the real number \(\lambda\ge0\) is a coupling strength; \(\psi_{ij}(t)=\psi(|x_i(t)-x_j(t)|)\) are the symmetric communication rates (the case with nonsymmetric rates is also discussed); the delays \(\tau_{ij}(t)\ge 0\) are bounded. A solution of the system \textit{converges to consensus} (or \textit{flocking}) if \[ \sup_{t>0}\frac{1}{2N^2}\sum_{i,j=1}^N|x_i(t)-x_j(t)|^2<+\infty\ \ \text{and}\ \ \lim_{t\to\infty}\frac{1}{2N^2}\sum_{i,j=1}^N|v_i(t)-v_j(t)|^2=0. \] The authors establish convergence to consensus provided the time delay is below an explicit threshold by a Lyapunov direct method. The main results show that the bound on the time delay that guarantees consensus depends on the coupling strength \(\lambda\), on the communication rates and on the bound for the time derivative of delay, but it does not depend on the number \(N\) of the agents. Some illustrative numerical examples are presented.