The Statistical Physics of Fixation and Equilibration in Individual-Based Models

Beschreibung

This thesis explores several interdisciplinary topics at the border of theoretical physics and biology, presenting results that demonstrate the power of methods from statistical physics when applied to neighbouring disciplines. From birth-death processes in switching environments to discussions on the meaning of quasi-potential landscapes in high-dimensional spaces, this thesis is a shining example of the efficacy of interdisciplinary research. The fields advanced in this work include game theory, the dynamics of cancer, and invasion of mutants in resident populations, as well as general contributions to the theory of stochastic processes. The background material provides an intuitive introduction to the theory and applications of stochastic population dynamics, and the use of techniques from statistical physics in their analysis. The thesis then builds on these foundations to address problems motivated by biological phenomena.
This thesis explores several interdisciplinary topics at the border of theoretical physics and biology, presenting results that demonstrate the power of methods from statistical physics when applied to neighbouring disciplines. From birth-death processes in switching environments to discussions on the meaning of quasi-potential landscapes in high-dimensional spaces, this thesis is a shining example of the efficacy of interdisciplinary research. The fields advanced in this work include game theory, the dynamics of cancer, and invasion of mutants in resident populations, as well as general contributions to the theory of stochastic processes. The background material provides an intuitive introduction to the theory and applications of stochastic population dynamics, and the use of techniques from statistical physics in their analysis. The thesis then builds on these foundations to address problems motivated by biological phenomena.
Nominated as an outstanding Ph.D. thesis by the University of Manchester, UK Features a clear introduction to birth-death processes and how to calculate fixation probabilities and mean fixation times Considers a diverse set of applications, including evolutionary game theory and cancer dynamics Provides a pedagogical account of the WentzeI-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) method, which is illustrated with numerous examples Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autor*in

Peter Ashcroft

Themen in »The Statistical Physics of Fixation and Equilibration in Individual-Based Models«

Evolutionary Game Theory Moran Process Fixation Probability Fixation Time Distribution Mixing Time Stochastic Tunnelling Cancer Initiation WKB Method Quasi-stationary Distribution Quasi-potential Landscapes data-driven science, modeling and theory building

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