Do physicists use agent based models? I am hoping that this is a simple and specific question. I just wanted to know whether physicists from any branch of physics use agent based models as a tool in their research? If so, then in which areas or branches of research?
Note, I already know the Ising and Potts models are used in magnetism and other areas. Those are pretty simple models. I am actually interested in more complicated agent based models.
I am asking because while I see many articles on agent based models in Physica A, the articles tend to be about non-physics things like opinion formation, stock market behavior, etc. I have no problem with using agent based models outside of physics, I am just interested in its uses within the scope of physics problems. Hence I wanted to see how physicists use this tool to study physics problems. Thanks.
 A: Your question contains its own answer. Physics per se does not include the study of agents in the sense you mean. You definition of agent includes some set of active or reactive somewhat complex behaviors (as compared with the typical physical laws) in a collective setting. Such an agent is not a particle, nor a crystal, nor a star, nor anything that comes to my mind. Agents are often used in a branch of physics called complex systems, but many physicists consider these to be cross disciplinary studies, such as biology (collective animal behaviors, such as flocks or ant colonies; evolution), econophysics, social physics, etc.
A: On another note, Wolfram has a program to replace traditional physics(ie PDE/ODE) with  cellular automanta. He has website ( https://www.wolframphysics.org/ ). And lately he seems to  have made major breakthrough in replicating results in traditional physics using his method. eg his explanation of STR is amusing. I can not judge of his success, but for me pedagogically his approaches sounds so intuitive and interesting, though I am not sure if a real theory can come out of rules one randomly picks. The rules are not known apriori, one has to search random throughout monstrous possible permutations of rules. I like Wolfram because surely he came out with something novel and fresh. The problem is realizing the dream.
