Related papers: Geometric interpretation of phyllotaxis transition
We consider the evolution of the packing of disks (representing the position of buds) that are introduced at the top of a surface which has the form of a growing stem. They migrate downwards, while conforming to three principles, applied…
Most genes are part of larger families of evolutionary related genes. The history of gene families typically involves duplications and losses of genes as well as horizontal transfers into other organisms. The reconstruction of detailed gene…
The plastic flow of a polycrystal is analyzed assuming grains as fine that the rate limiting process is grain boundary sliding, and grains readily accommodate their shapes by slip to preserve spatial continuity. It is shown that thinking of…
Treemaps are a popular technique to visualize hierarchical data. The input is a weighted tree $\tree$ where the weight of each node is the sum of the weights of its children. A treemap for $\tree$ is a hierarchical partition of a rectangle…
We use a combination of analytic models and computer simulations to gain insight into the dynamics of evolution. Our results suggest that certain interesting phenomena should eventually emerge from the fossil record. For example, there…
We study the problem of folding of the regular triangular lattice in the presence of bending rigidity K and magnetic field h (conjugate to the local normal vectors to the triangles). A numerical study of the transfer matrix of the problem…
By unifying three foundational principles of modern biology, we develop a mathematical framework to analyze the growing tree of life. Contrary to the static case, where the analogy between phylogenetic trees and the tree that grows in soil…
Concerns about biodiversity and the long-term stability of forest ecosystems have lead to changing attitudes with respect to plantations. These artificial communities are ubiquitous, yet provide reduced habitat value in comparison to their…
Field theories with extra dimensions live in a limbo. While their classical solutions have been the subject of considerable study, their quantum aspects are difficult to control. A special class of such theories are anisotropic gauge…
In this work, we revise the concept of foliation and related aspects that are crucial when formulating the Hamiltonian evolution for various theories beyond General Relativity. In particular, we show the relation between the kinematic…
A calculational framework is proposed for phylogenetics, using nonlocal quantum field theories in hypercubic geometry. Quadratic terms in the Hamiltonian give the underlying Markov dynamics, while higher degree terms represent branching…
The study of fluctuation-induced transport is concerned with the directed motion of particles on a substrate when subjected to a fluctuating external field. Work over the last two decades provides now precise clues on how the average…
The dramatic dynamic slowing down associated with the glass transition is considered by many to be related to the existence of a static length scale that grows when temperature decreases. Defining, identifying and measuring such a length is…
The glass transition is a long-standing problem in physics. Identifying the structural origin of the transition may lead to the ultimate solution to the problem. Here, for the first time, we discover such a structural origin by proposing a…
We investigate the complexity of finding a transformation from a given spanning tree in a graph to another given spanning tree in the same graph via a sequence of edge flips. The exchange property of the matroid bases immediately yields…
The topological transitions that occur to the grain boundary network during grain growth in a material with uniform grain boundary energies are believed to be known. The same is not true for more realistic materials, since more general…
The operation of transforming one spanning tree into another by replacing an edge has been considered widely, both for general and planar straight-line graphs. For the latter, several variants have been studied (e.g., edge slides and edge…
Lotus leaves floating on water usually experience short-wavelength edge wrinkling that decays toward the center, while the leaves growing above water normally morph into a global bending cone shape with long rippled waves near the edge.…
Plant morphogenesis relies on dynamic growth deformations at the cell and tissue scales driven by osmotic fluxes. A mechanistic understanding of this phenomenon demands a physical framework that integrates cell imbibition, tissue mechanics,…
A phylogenetic tree shows the evolutionary relationships among species. Internal nodes of the tree represent speciation events and leaf nodes correspond to species. A goal of phylogenetics is to combine such trees into larger trees, called…