2017/09/05 by Gabriel Bîrzu, Oskar Hallatschek, Birzu, Gabriel +3
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #Diffusion and Search Dynamics #Evolution and Genetic Dynamics #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation #Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE) #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1709.01601
openalex publication_date 2017/09/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Traveling waves describe diverse natural phenomena from crystal growth in\nphysics to range expansions in biology. Two classes of waves exist with very\ndifferent properties: pulled and pushed. Pulled waves are driven by high growth\nrates at the expansion edge, where the number of organisms is small and\nfluctuations are large. In contrast, fluctuations are suppressed in pushed\nwaves because the region of maximal growth is shifted towards the population\nbulk. Although it is commonly believed that expansions are either pulled or\npushed, we found an intermediate class of waves with bulk-driven growth, but\nexceedingly large fluctuations. These waves are unusual because their\nproperties are controlled by both the leading edge and the bulk of the front.\n