How to simulate a random walk to randomly generated particle to another particle fixed at the center of a grid?

Question

I am new in Mathematica, it is my first program. Many codes of diffusion-limited aggregation are available but, they are too difficult to understand. I basically want to create a simulation of the random walk demonstrating the Brownian motion in a visible grid. It is a regular lattice. It starts with a single seed particle at the origin of a lattice. A second particle (random walker), is added at some random site at a long distance from the origin. This particle walks randomly until it reaches a site adjacent to the seed and becomes part of the growing cluster. The particle jumps from the current site to one of their nearest lattice sites at each step until it hits and sticks to the cluster of fixed particles. A third, fourth and so on particles are introduced in the same way and they also join the growing cluster. If the particle reaches the boundaries of the lattice in its random walk, it is killed, and another introduced. The procedure is repeated until a cluster of sufficiently large size is formed. The aggregation process is similar to the DLA model. The aggregation starts with a seed at the site which is nearest to the centre of the square. A particle is added at a random site at large distance from the seed. The particle chooses randomly a neighbour and walks on the geometric graph. When the particle reaches a site that is adjacent to the seed or the cluster, the particle becomes a part of the cluster. I want the end result of this type given in link -> aggregation model

Towards this end, I have created a grid and two particles. But, I am not able to move the particle. Below is my code:

Graphics[{PointSize[Large], Point[{{25/2, 25/2}, 
{RandomInteger [25], RandomInteger [25]}}]},  
GridLines -> {Range[0, 25], Range[0, 25]}, 
PlotRange -> {{0, 25}, {0, 25}}, Axes -> True]

Answer 1

So, here is my reformulations of C.E.'s code.

What has changed:

• I use reservoirs rand and randpts of large random arrays; generating such arrays is much less expensive than generating every random number on its own.

• I use RegionMember and Nearest for the collision tests.

Implementation

getCluster[startcluster_, nparticles_, L_] := Module[{
    getStartpoint, getDirection,
    directions, cluster, nf, box, inboxQ, nrand, rand, nrandpts, 
    randpts, iparticle, irand, irandpts, particle, inbox
    },

   getStartpoint[] := Block[{p},
     If[irandpts < nrandpts,
      irandpts++,
      irandpts = 1;
      randpts = RandomInteger[{-L, L}, {nrandpts, 2}];
      ];
     p = randpts[[irandpts]];
     While[
      Length[nf[p, {1, 0}]] > 0,
      If[irandpts < nrandpts,
       irandpts++,
       irandpts = 1;
       randpts = RandomInteger[{-L, L}, {nrandpts, 2}];
       ];
      p = randpts[[irandpts]];
      ];
     p
     ];

   getDirection[] := (
     If[irand < nrand,
      irand++,
      irand = 1;
      rand = RandomInteger[{1, 4}, nrand];
      ];
     directions[[rand[[irand]]]]
     );

   directions = Developer`ToPackedArray[{{0, 1}, {1, 0}, {0, -1}, {-1, 0}}];

   (* set up a sufficiently large array to store the cluster in order to avoid the costly Append.*)
   cluster = Join[startcluster, ConstantArray[{0, 0}, {nparticles}]];
   nf = Nearest[cluster -> Automatic];

   (* define the box and a collision checker *)

   box = Rectangle[{-L, -L}, {L, L}];
   inboxQ = RegionMember[box];

   (* counters for the reservoirs for random numbers and points *)

   irand = nrand = 1000000;
   irandpts = nrandpts = 10000;

   iparticle = Length[startcluster];

   (* share some progress info with the user *)       
   PrintTemporary[
    Dynamic[
     Grid@
      Transpose[{{"iparticle", "irand", "irandpts"}, {iparticle, 
         irand, irandpts}}]
     ]
    ];
   While[iparticle < Length[cluster],
    Check[particle = getStartpoint[];, Print["!"]];
    inbox = True;
    While[inbox,
     Check[particle += getDirection[];, Print["?"]];
     inbox = inboxQ[particle];
     If[inbox,
      If[Length[nf[particle, {1, 1}]] > 0,
       Check[cluster[[iparticle]] = particle;, Print["."]];
       nf = Nearest[cluster -> Automatic];
       iparticle++;
       inbox = False
       ]
      ]
     ]
    ];
   Association[
    "Cluster" -> cluster,
    "Box" -> box,
    "N" -> nparticles
    ]
   ];

And here a function to plot the particles with color according to their age:

showCluster[a_Association] := With[{L = a[["Box", 2, 2]]},
   ArrayPlot[
    Transpose@SparseArray[
      (a[["Cluster"]] + (L + 1)) -> 
       Rescale[Range[Length[a[["Cluster"]]]]],
      {2 L + 1, 2 L + 1},
      2.
      ],
    ColorFunction -> "DeepSeaColors",
    PlotRange -> {0, 1},
    ClippingStyle -> White,
    DataReversed -> {True, False}
    ]
   ];

Usage example

A test run with 2000 particles, a single condensation core at {0,0}, and a box of edgelength 101 = 2 * 50 + 1 (yes, this takes a bit):

data = getCluster[{{0, 0}}, 10000, 100]; // AbsoluteTiming // First

184.823

And here a plot of the result:

showCluster[data]

You can continue the simulation with

data2 = getCluster[data[["Cluster"]], 10000, 100]; // AbsoluteTiming // First
showCluster[data2]

28.3286

Surprisingly complex patterns!

Answer 2

This is like what you described, except that I also made sure that the particle didn't wander outside of the region $-100 \leq x, y \leq 100$ to ensure that convergence wouldn't take too long.

particles = {{0, 0}};
nf = Nearest[particles -> Automatic];
nextStep := RandomChoice[{{0, 1}, {1, 0}, {0, -1}, {-1, 0}}];
nParticles = 100;
l = 100;

inBounds[{x_, y_}, l_] := -l < x < l && -l < y < l

Do[
  particle = RandomInteger[{-l, l}, 2];
  While[
   Length[nf[particle, {1, 1}]] == 0,
   particle = RandomInteger[{-l + 1, l - 1}, 2];
   ];
  step = nextStep;
  While[
   Length[nf[particle, {1, 1}]] == 0,
   particle += step;
   step = nextStep;
   While[
    ! inBounds[particle + step, l],
    step = nextStep;
    ]
   ];
  AppendTo[particles, particle];
  nf = Nearest[particles -> Automatic],
  {nParticles}
  ];

Graphics[{
  Point[particles]
  }]