Centre for Discrete and Applicable Mathematics
	CDAM Research Report, LSE-CDAM-2000-14 July 2000

Abstract

There is an extensive theory regarding optimal continuous path search for a mobile or immobile `target'. The traditional theory assume that the target is one of three types: (i) an object with a known distribution of paths, (ii) a mobile or immobile hider who wants to avoid or delay capture, or (iii) a rendezvouser who wants to find the searcher. This paper introduces a new type of search problem by assuming that aims of the target are not known to the searcher. The target may be either a type (iii) cooperator (with a known cooperation probability  c ) or a type (ii) evader. This formulation models search problems like that for a lost teenager who may be a `runaway', or a lost intelligence agent who may be a defector. In any given search context, it produces a continuum of search problems linking a zero-sum search game to a rendezvous problem. These models thus provide a theoretical bridge between two previously distinct parts of Search Theory, namely Search Games and Rendezvous Search.

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