Mutation at Expanding Front of Self-Replicating Colloidal Clusters
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Zorana Zeravcic; Hidenori Tanaka; Michael Brenner
- Source
- Subject
- Physics
education.field_of_study
Population
Front (oceanography)
General Physics and Astronomy
FOS: Physical sciences
Nanotechnology
Condensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter
010402 general chemistry
Colloidal clusters
01 natural sciences
Replication (computing)
Square (algebra)
0104 chemical sciences
Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph)
0103 physical sciences
Mutation (genetic algorithm)
Cluster (physics)
Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
Statistical physics
Physics - Biological Physics
010306 general physics
education
Evolutionary dynamics
- Language
- English
We construct a scheme for self-replicating square clusters of particles in two spatial dimensions, and validate it with computer simulations in a finite-temperature heat bath. We find that the self-replication reactions propagate through the bath in the form of Fisher waves. Our model reflects existing colloidal systems, but is simple enough to allow simulation of many generations and thereby the first study of evolutionary dynamics in an artificial system. By introducing spatially localized mutations in the replication rules, we show that the mutated cluster population can survive and spread with the expanding front in circular sectors of the colony.