Multi-player pursuit–evasion games with one superior evader

Inspired by the hunting and foraging behaviors of group predators, this paper addresses a class of multi-player pursuit–evasion games with one superior evader, who moves faster than the pursuers. We are concerned with the conditions under which the pursuers can capture the evader, involving the minimum number and initial spatial distribution required as well as the cooperative strategies of the pursuers. We present some necessary or sufficient conditions to regularize the encirclement formed by the pursuers to the evader. Then we provide a cooperative scheme for the pursuers to maintain and shrink the encirclement until the evader is captured. Finally, we give some examples to illustrate the theoretical results.