Subdiffusive Activity Spreading in the Diffusive Epidemic Process

2021/05/31 by Borislav Polovnikov, Patrick Wilke, Erwin Frey
Mathematics · Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #COVID-19 epidemiological studies #Complex Network Analysis Techniques #Diffusion #Diffusion process #Mathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models #Phase (matter) #Phase transition #Process (computing) #Scaling #Stochastic process #cond-mat.stat-mech

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.128.078302

6 pages, 5 figures

arxiv created 2021/05/31 · openalex created_date 2021/06/22 · openalex publication_date 2022/02/15 · arxiv updated 2022/03/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

The diffusive epidemic process is a paradigmatic example of an absorbing state phase transition in which healthy and infected individuals spread with different diffusion constants. Using stochastic activity spreading simulations in combination with finite-size scaling analyses we reveal two qualitatively different processes that characterize the critical dynamics: subdiffusive propagation of infection clusters and diffusive fluctuations in the healthy population. This suggests the presence of a strong-coupling regime and sheds new light on a longstanding debate about the theoretical classification of the system.

Citations

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